<p class="bodytext">Bengaluru, DHNS: Congress leader T D Rajegowda, who lost the Sringeri Assembly seat to BJP’s D N Jeevaraj following a recount of postal votes as per the High Court direction, has petitioned the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka, alleging criminal conspiracy, forgery and fraudulently defacing the ballot papers.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Rajegowda has sought review of all CCTV footages of the first counting date (May 13, 2023) in his presence to bring out the “truth.”</p>.Sringeri recounting row | Krishna Byre Gowda alleges tampering of postal ballot, vote theft.<p class="bodytext">The Congress leader claimed that Jeevaraj had raised objection to only the 279 rejected postal ballots, which, the High Court ordered for re-verification.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“During the May 2, 2026, recount, only eight of the rejected postal ballots were accepted for counting. Of these three were rejected due to technical reasons, and of the remaining five, three were in my favour and two in favour of Jeevaraj. However, 257 valid in my bundle were rejected due to double-entry. Now, such high volume of rejection of ballots by government officials is not possible,” said Rajegowda alleging a conspiracy.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“Jeevaraj, R O Vedamurthy and D C Ramesh have conspired and tampered with the ballots which were in open cover, making them invalid. The 2023 decision book signed by all, is also altered. My agent had objected to damaged boxes in the strong room,” stated Rajegowda, urging the CEO to initiate criminal proceedings under Section 136 of the RP Act against the officials and the candidate.</p>
<p class="bodytext">Bengaluru, DHNS: Congress leader T D Rajegowda, who lost the Sringeri Assembly seat to BJP’s D N Jeevaraj following a recount of postal votes as per the High Court direction, has petitioned the Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka, alleging criminal conspiracy, forgery and fraudulently defacing the ballot papers.</p>.<p class="bodytext">Rajegowda has sought review of all CCTV footages of the first counting date (May 13, 2023) in his presence to bring out the “truth.”</p>.Sringeri recounting row | Krishna Byre Gowda alleges tampering of postal ballot, vote theft.<p class="bodytext">The Congress leader claimed that Jeevaraj had raised objection to only the 279 rejected postal ballots, which, the High Court ordered for re-verification.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“During the May 2, 2026, recount, only eight of the rejected postal ballots were accepted for counting. Of these three were rejected due to technical reasons, and of the remaining five, three were in my favour and two in favour of Jeevaraj. However, 257 valid in my bundle were rejected due to double-entry. Now, such high volume of rejection of ballots by government officials is not possible,” said Rajegowda alleging a conspiracy.</p>.<p class="bodytext">“Jeevaraj, R O Vedamurthy and D C Ramesh have conspired and tampered with the ballots which were in open cover, making them invalid. The 2023 decision book signed by all, is also altered. My agent had objected to damaged boxes in the strong room,” stated Rajegowda, urging the CEO to initiate criminal proceedings under Section 136 of the RP Act against the officials and the candidate.</p>
