Raksha Ramaiah wins Youth Congress president poll

In a controversial result, Congress leader Raksha Ramaiah won the presidential election to the Karnataka Pradesh Youth Congress Committee (KPYCC) despite ending up second in the race behind Mohammed Haris Nalapad, who was disqualified at the last minute.

Raksha Ramaiah, 34, is the son of former minister M R Seetharam. He secured 57,271 votes.

Nalapad bagged 64,203 votes, but was disqualified owing to the infamous 2018 assault case, party sources said.

The result has created controversy within the party.

Another presidential candidate Mithun Rai, who got 3,104 votes, was disqualified as he was overaged.

The app-based Youth Congress presidential election was held on January 10, 11 and 12.

According to the party sources, Raksha Ramaiah had Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader Siddaramaiah’s backing, whereas Nalapad had Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) president D K Shivakumar on his side.

Apparently, Nalapad was disqualified after FAME, a non-profit organisation engaged by the Congress, brought up the 2018 assault case in which he has been charge-sheeted. Nalapad is the son of Shantinagar legislator N A Haris.

“This is really unfair. Why was Nalapad allowed to contest in the first place?” a Congress youth leader bawled.

It is also said that some party leaders who are loyal to Siddaramaiah reached out to former Congress president Rahul Gandhi and advised him not to allow Nalapad to become the KPYCC president as that could damage the party’s image because of the assault case.

Raksha Ramaiah will replace Basanagouda Badarli as the KPYCC president. Student leader H S Manjunatha, with 18,137 votes, will be its vice-president.