Nanjangud Congress candidate Kalale Keshavamurthy has come under allegations of violating the model code of conduct in the Legislative Assembly bye-polls in the constituency, as he wore a Congress scarf inside a polling station.
According to the code of conduct issued by the Election Commission, no party is allowed to set up its tents and no individual is allowed to sport any party symbols within 100 metres of the polling booth. However, when Keshavamurthy went to vote, he wore a scarf bearing the Congress colours and symbol inside the booth itself.
It is not as yet clear what action election officials will take against Keshavamurthy.
Nanjangud bypoll candidate from Congress Kalale Krishnamurthy wore Congress symbol inside polling station #Karnataka pic.twitter.com/wKAVqmO7Ab
— ANI (@ANI_news) April 9, 2017
However, this is not the first complaint of model code violation from the bye-polls in Karnataka.
Earlier, on Saturday, a complaint was filed against BJP state President BS Yeddyurappa for handing over Rs 1 lakh to the bereaved wife of a farmer from Gundlupet who committed suicide recently. The Hindu reported that the Returning Officer for the Gundlupet bye-polls had filed a criminal case in this regard.
Yeddyurappa, however, defended his actions as spurred by humanitarian intentions. “When I saw her in tears, I forgot that it was the election time and that the election code of conduct was in force,” he reportedly said in a statement.
Nanjangud and Gundlupet have gone to the polls as the seats fell vacant following a resignation and a death respectively. In Nanjangud, former Congress MLA Shrinivas Prasad resigned from the seat ahead of switching loyalties to the Congress. In Gundlupet, the seat fell vacant after the Congress’s Mahadev Prasad died on January 3.
Both constituencies are seeing a heads-up battle between the Congress and the BJP. Keshavamurthy and Srinivas Prasad are the main contenders from the Congress and the BJP respectively in Nanjangud, while Prasad’s wife, Geeta Mahadev Prasad, squares off against CS Niranjan Kumar for the BJP in Gundlupet.