BJP ticket aspirant booked in two cases in Karnataka

Byatarayanapura BJP ticket aspirant K Munindra Kumar has been booked in two cases related to electoral malpractice, Chief Electoral Officer Manoj Kumar Meena clarified on Friday, a day after MLA Krishna Byregowda accused the election officials of bias.

In a statement, Meena said the magistrate's permission was taken to include Kumar in the FIR. A former BBMP corporator from Yelahanka, Kumar is regarded as a leading aspirant vying for the BJP ticket from the Byatarayanapura constituency.

The FIRs were registered in two complaints about the seizure of appliances on March 27 and 28. Kumar was not booked though the appliances bore his image and BJP symbol.

Byregowda complained to the chief electoral officer on Thursday and also took to Twitter to accuse election officers of favouring BJP by not booking a case against the "potential BJP candidate who had stored ₹3.6 crore worth of material to bribe voters". He said similar cases had attracted FIRs against Congress MLAs, he had said and also submitted a complaint to the chief electoral officer.

He said the March 28 FIR regarding the storage of appliances was booked against one Krishnamachari Manjunath. "Since the photo of Munindra Kumar and the party symbol of BJP were found on the seized materials, the magistrate's permission has been obtained to make Kumar also an accused in the case and further investigate the matter," he said.

Similarly, permission has been taken to add Kumar in another FIR registered on March 27 regarding materials seized from Hayagriva Public School, he added.