MP: Vijayvargiya refutes poll malpractice charge

BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya on Friday denied allegation of election malpractices before the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Indore bench, which is hearing a case pertaining to his election to Vidhan Sabha in 2013.

BJP leader Kailash Vijayvargiya on Friday denied allegation of election malpractices before the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s Indore bench, which is hearing a case pertaining to his election to Vidhan Sabha in 2013.

National BJP general secretary Kailash Vijayvargiya after the hearing at High Court in Indore on Friday. (Arun Mondhe / HT Photo)

Congress leader Antar Singh Darbar has challenged Vijayvargiya’s election to the state assembly in the court alleging that the national general secretary had distributed liquor and money among voters before the election.

Vijayvargiya denied the allegation during a cross-examination that took place for over two hours in a jam-packed courtroom. Videos that purportedly show Vijayvargiya distributing currency among people were screened in the court.

After the hearing, Vijayvargiya told the media, “Had he (Darbar) worked in Mhow constituency after being elected twice earlier, I would not have won the election.”

Darbar’s counsel Ravindra Singh Chhabra said three CDs were played in the court and several photographs were shown to him, but he refused to admit except one instance where he was seen distributing medals in a Moharram rally on November 14, 2013.

“In some photographs, it can be clearly seen that he is giving money to a woman, but he refused to admit saying it was a laddu,” said Darbar’s another counsel Vibhor Khandelwal.

Earlier, an election officer had said the letter of nomination of Kamal Patel as MLA representative of Vijayvargiya was missing.

In his petition, Darbar also alleged that Patel had distributed liquor on behalf of Vijayvargiya.

Replying to allegations against Patel, the BJP leader said, “I have cordial relation with Kamal Patel, and nominated him as my representative, but the allegations against him are completely baseless. I am not aware anything of that sort has happened.”

Besides, the petitioner alleged that chief minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan’s promises, during an election campaign in Mhow, had violated model code of conduct.

Vijayvargiya said, “I do not write the chief minister’s speech. And we do not know how much impact did his speech have in my election victory.”