Congress patriarch of electoral malpractice: R Ashoka

Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in Assembly
R Ashoka on Monday taunted the ruling Congress, campaigning against “Vote Chori”, as the “patriarch” of electoral malpractice.

Ashoka, while referring to the Karnataka High Court declaring the election of Congress MLA S N Subba Reddy in 2023 from the Bagepalli constituency “invalid and void”, said, “Where is vote theft? It is in the Congress party! Will Rahul Gandhi now come to Bagepalli (now Bhagyanagar) and protest against vote theft and election fraud? If there is any patriarch of vote stealing and electoral malpractice in our country, it is the Congress party and the forefathers of Rahul Gandhi.”

The petition was filed by BJP candidate C Muniraju seeking both the annulment of Subba Reddy’s election and a declaration naming himself as the winner from Bagepalli. However, the court has only annulled the result. Muniraju had alleged that Subba Reddy had filed incorrect nomination papers and concealed details regarding his assets and liabilities during the filing of nomination.

“I had been fighting the case legally for the last three years. I welcome the court ruling and Bagepalli does not have MLA from this moment. The court did not declare me as the winner but I fought against a corrupt MLA, who had given false information and also concealed details. The court did not stay the order for 30 days as sought by Reddy,” said Muniraju.