BENGALURU: A day after it suffered a shock with its Ramanagara assembly bypoll candidate backing off from the contest and later jumping ship, the Bharatiya Janata Party’s last-ditch attempt on Friday to seek postponement of voting in the assembly constituency came a cropper.
Bypolls to all three parliamentary and two assembly seats will now be held as per schedule on Saturday.
In its complaint to the Election Commission, the BJP had deemed the situation as unprecedented and a violation of election process. While the Election Commission is considering a report filed by the Chief Election Officer of Karnataka with regards to the situation in Ramanagara, officials said there was no provision in the law to postpone polls in the light of Thursday’s development. Voters in all five seats can cast their votes to choose their MPs and MLAs, including BJP’s official candidate L Chandrashekhar, on Saturday. The results of the bypolls are set to be announced on November 6.
After being pulled up by its top brass for its handling of party candidate in Ramanagara, the state BJP decided to knock on the doors of the Election Commission hoping to get an extension on poll dates. The party wrote an email to the Election Commission of India apart from submitting a memorandum to the State Election Commission in Bengaluru, but to no avail.
“There is nothing specific in any law to accommodate this (BJP’s demand). We have sent a report to the Election Commission and it is under their examination. There is no provision at all in the law to stall elections like this. The ECI will take a call on what has to be done,” said Sanjiv Kumar Chief Election Officer, Karnataka.
“It is the height of destruction of democratic virtues and sanctity of the election. This fraud cannot stand and the election is to be annulled and postponed,” the BJP said in its memorandum.The party has reiterated that it wants to contest the election but Chandrashekhar’s move has made it impossible for the elections to be free and fair.
“We are a national party of 12 crore workers and his decision has deceived not just our workers but also the voters,” BJP said. In its memorandum, the party has claimed that it could have won the Ramanagara seat but is unable to do so because of Congress’ ploy.“Party leaders are busy with elections, but we have sought advice on taking the legal route too. We will take a decision once the elections conclude,” said party MLC Ravikumar
