'Electoral Offenses Committed By Presidential Candidate Droupadi Murmu': Cong Files Complaint With EC

Congress Legislative Party leader Siddaramaiah and state party chief D K Shivakumar in their complaint alleged that the MLAs, who were the voters, were provided luxurious stay in a five-star hotel.

New Delhi: The Congress party has filed a complaint with the Election Commission against the NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu alleging violation of provisions of the law in the July 18 election. The party in Karnataka has issued a complaint against Murmu and others claiming that the Bhartiya Janata Party 'bribed and exerted undue influence' on its MLAs on July 17 and 18.

According to a PTI report, the Congress Legislative Party leader Siddaramaiah and state party president D K Shivakumar in their complaint alleged that the MLAs, who were the voters, were provided luxurious stay in a five-star hotel.

 They claimed that at the "instance and consent" of the NDA candidate (Murmu), Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, the BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel, BJP senior leader B S Yediyurappa, the BJP chief whip in the Assembly Sathish Reddy, the ministers and other senior leaders of BJP joined together and summoned all the MLAs of BJP to a five-Star hotel here and provided luxurious rooms, food, liquor, beverages, entertainment in the guise of a training session for MLAs on voting in the presidential election.

The leaders further said that on July 18 morning, almost all the ministers, MLAs and other senior leaders of the BJP came in a government-owned Bengaluru Metropolitan Transport Corporation’s air-conditioned bus from the hotel to Vidhana Soudha to exercise their electoral rights.

“All these acts of the BJP leaders are nothing but bribery and undue influence on the voters/MLAs made on behalf Droupadi Murmu for the furtherance of the prospectus of the election,” they alleged.

The leaders said in the complaint that by these acts, the BJP leadership has interfered with the free exercise of the electoral rights of the voters or MLAs, and a huge amount was spent on them in a five-star hotel.

They requested the ECI to take cognisance of the “electoral offenses committed by the NDA’s presidential candidate Droupadi Murmu, Bommai, Yediyurappa, Kateel and Reddy”.

They also demanded filing a criminal case against them under various sections of the IPC along with the provisions of the Presidential and Vice Presidential Election Act, 1952.

Siddaramaiah and Shivakumar also asked the EC to direct the Returning Officer of the Presidential election to treat all the votes polled in favour of the NDA candidate as invalid “in the interest of free and fair election”. 

(with PTI inputs)