Alleging that the BJP leaders in Karnataka indulged in bribing voters ahead of Assembly polls, Congress on Tuesday urged the Election Commission of India to probe the matter.
Congress General Secretary (incharge Karnataka) Randeep Singh Surjewala in a memorandum to the Election Commission of India said that the BJP leader and former Minister Ramesh Jarkiholi announced in Belagavi that the BJP would pay Rs 6,000 per vote to every voter in the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections.
“This incident was caught on camera also. This is part of the concerted conspiracy hatched at the highest levels in the BJP with the obvious sanction and blessings of the Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, BJP state unit president Nalin Kumar Kateel and BJP national president J P Nadda,” he said in the memorandum.
Though the Congress had filed a complaint to police in Bengaluru and lodged a complaint with the State Election Commission at Bengaluru on this incident, no action has been taken so far, he said.
In the memorandum, Congress demanded immediate measures to ensure the fairness, integrity and independence of the electoral process for the upcoming assembly election. The Congress also demanded the ECI to depute special observers to Karnataka to prevent rampant bribery by BJP leaders.
In another memorandum, Surjewala alleged that there was a deletion of eligible voters from the final electoral roll published for Shivajinagar Assembly segment. .
Demanding the probe into the exercise of deleting and cancelling names of voters, he urged the Commission to restrain the State Electoral Officer and ERO (electoral registration officer) from initiating any selective action against eligible voters.
(Published 07 February 2023, 19:01 IST)
JOIN US