The Congress state unit on Tuesday lodged a complaint against the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) presidential candidate, Draupadi Murmu and others, alleging violations of election provisions in the July 18 polls to the highest office in the country.
In its complaint to the chief electoral officer of Karnataka, Congress state president DK Shivakumar said on July 17 chief minister Basavaraj Bommai, his predecessor, BS Yediyurappa and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state president, Nalin Kumar Kateel among others invited all MLAs and MPs from the state to a five-star hotel (Shangri-la) in Bengaluru as part of the campaigning.
He said during this meeting, the BJP “provided luxurious rooms, food, liquor/beverages/drinks, entertainment in the said hotel in the guise of training sessions for the MLAs on voting in the presidential election”.
Shivakumar also said all legislators stayed back at the hotel and the following day came to the Vidhana Soudha by a public-owned bus to cast their respective ballots in favour of the NDA candidate.
“All these acts of BJP leaders are nothing but bribery and undue influence on the voters/MLAs made on behalf of Draupadi Murmu for the furtherance of the prospects of the elections,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}“All these acts of BJP leaders are nothing but bribery and undue influence on the voters/MLAs made on behalf of Draupadi Murmu for the furtherance of the prospects of the elections,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}The letter, signed by Opposition leader in the assembly Siddaramaiah and in the council BK Hariprasad, said these acts of the BJP interfered with the free exercise of elections and urged the authorities to take cognizance of their actions.
Satish Reddy, the chief whip of the BJP in the assembly, told HT: “Our party is spending its own money and I don’t understand why they (Congress) have a problem with this. Their fear of losing is making them make these allegations. We called our party leaders to speak about our ideology and for our candidate. If they have evidence that we paid bribes or any other allegation, let them bring it out.”
NDA candidate Murmu is pitted against joint opposition nominee Yashwant Sinha in the polls. The system of secret ballot is followed in the presidential election, and parties cannot issue whips to their MPs and MLAs with regard to voting.
According to the election commission’s directions, while MPs get a green ballot paper, the MLAs get a pink ballot paper. The separate colours help the returning officer ascertain the value of votes of each MLA and MP.