BENGALURU: Prakash Raj, who is contesting from Bangalore Central constituency, has now been accused of electoral malpractice. A social activist from Bengaluru has filed a complaint with Election Commissioner of Karnataka, alleging that Prakash has four EPIC cards in three states, which amounts to one year of imprisonment. He has asked the EC to reject the candidature of the actor-turned-politician.
Jagan Kumar, a social activist from Bengaluru, has filed a complaint saying that the actor enrolling voter card at four different places, is a violation under the Representation of People’s Act. Kumar, in his complaint said, “Prakash Raj has filed nomination as an independent candidate from Bangalore Central and has registered his name in the voter list of three places — two in Tamil Nadu’s Velachery constituency and one in Telangana’s Serilinampally constituency — which means his name is active in all these addresses with voter ID records. This is a clear violation of Sections 17, 18 and 31 of the Representation of People’s Act 1950.”
The letter also included the voter card numbers of Prakash. Arun KS, Kumar’s advocate, said, “This is a clear violation of rules by Prakash Raj. Apart from these three addresses, he has one more voter card in the address of Shanthinagar, which he has declared in his election’s affidavit.
There has to be some accountability for these people but it is unfortunate that they have been fooling everyone. Prakash can be fined with Rs 1,000 and sentenced to one year of imprisonment. If the Election Commission does not take any action in the matter, we will file Public Interest Litigation in the High Court, demanding rejection of his candidature,” he said.
When TNIE spoke to Prakash, he denied these allegations and said that some elements are trying to derail his path into politics. “These people are trying to derail the attempt of an artist and a national star to become a politician. These people have no work other than this and I am very much aware of what I should do. I have filed the nominations and the Election Commission will scrutinise my documents, which is all that matters,” he said.