BJP, Congress move EC over Karnataka election code violation

New Delhi/Bengaluru: As the high-stakes Karnataka Assembly election inches closer, it’s now virtually a war between arch-rivals Congress and BJP. On Friday, the BJP and Congress both lodged complaints against each other with the Election Commission over alleged violations of the Model Code of Conduct. The BJP also lodged a complaint on Friday against state Youth Congress chief Mohammed Haris Nalapad for making derogatory remarks on the “Modi surname”. The Congress alleges that cookers and other inducement materials were found at Byatarayanapura in Bengaluru.

In his complaint, Congress candidate and former minister Krishna Byre Gowda alleged that about six days ago, GST officers had raided one location and seized the inducement material worth Rs 3.6 crores. State Congress chief D.K. Shivakumar landed in trouble for allegedly throwing cash among people during an election campaign in Mandya on Tuesday.  The police registered a non-cognisable offence against him.

As the battle raged, the Congress claimed to have got another shot in the arm as Kudligi BJP MLA N.Y. Gopalakrishna has resigned and is now likely to join the party. To target young voters in the state, the Congress has launched a “first time youth voter” campaign. Launching the campaign, Congress leader Abhishek Dutt said: “The Youth Congress workers will visit each and every college and university and prevail upon the youths the importance of participating in the democratic process.”

Meanwhile, despite the intense speculation that BJP would field former chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa’s son B.Y. Vijayendra from Varuna Assembly seat in Mysuru against former Congress CM Siddaramaiah, it was clarified late Friday evening that Mr Vijayendra would contest from Shikaripura Assembly seat in Shivamogga district, and not from Varuna. This was announced by the former CM, Mr B.S. Yediyurappa. Mr Yediyurappa is the MLA from Shikaripura and said that he will not contest the Assembly polls theis time given that he is now 80 years old. Mr Yediyurappa told reporters in Bengaluru: “Under no circumstances Vijayendra will be fighting the election from Varuna.” However, an official announcement is yet to be made by the BJP.

Chief minister Basavaraj Bommai had said earlier Friday that while party workers wanted Mr Vijayendra to take on Mr Siddaramaiah in Varuna, a final decision would be taken by Mr Yediyurappa, who is also a member of the BJP parliamentary committee.

Mr Vijayendra will be making his electoral debut but he has earlier been involved in election campaigns for the party.

The Congress is, meanwhile, relying heavily on big data and youth. The party has shortlisted every new voter in every Assembly seat amd is reaching out to all citizens in the age group of 18 to 30 years. The election strategy team of the party is already in place since last one year and it is now executing the final reachout round. Speaking to this newspaper, a member of the team said: “This time we are going big on data. All our campaigns have certain target voters and we are covering it in a professional way.” Many in the party feel the traditional voter base of the Congress is intact, but young voters tend to be fickle-minded and need to be wooed in a particular way so that they votes for the party. After some recent surveys, that indicate the Congress is in comfortable position, the party is going all out to woo voters.

The screening committee of the Congress met on Friday and the remaining number of candidates will be announced soon. The state goes to the polls on May 10 and the results will be announced on May 13.