Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar shows a victory sign during a campaign. ANI
Bengaluru: Basavraj Bommai’s office has been accused of calling the returning officers of various districts and instructing them to deliberately find defects in the nominations filed by the Congress Party and rectify the mistakes in the filings of BJP candidates contesting the Assembly election.
Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) chief D K Shivakumar demanded that the Election Commission should investigate the matter and summon the call details of the CMO to ascertain the truth.
Congress’s Karnataka unit chief said in a press conference, “A major conspiracy is going on to reject the applications of the Congress candidates.”
He claimed that the applications of some BJP candidates like that of in the Saundatti Yellamma constituency are defective but the CMO “directly called the officer and directed him to make changes.”
The chief added, “There is no need to elaborate how a big team is trying to reject (my) application. You all have been informed about it.”
Furthermore, Shivkumar, who is running from the Kanakpura constituency, said that he filed his nominations 10 times and noted that “when they can do this to me then imagine what they can do to the ordinary candidates”.
He added, “Pressure is being built on all the returning officers. There is rampant misuse of power. The EC must take note of it. The CMO must be investigated.”
On Union Minister Shobha Karandlaje’s charge that the Congress was collecting ‘bribe’ from those candidates who have been given tickets to contest the Assembly election, Shivakumar retorted that his party was not collecting ’40 per cent commission.’
“We are only raising building funds for our party. We are collecting Rs 2 lakh from general candidates and Rs 1 lakh from SC/ST candidates,” Shivakumar explained.
With inputs from agencies
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