BENGALURU: The State BJP unit has upped the ante in its agitation seeking disqualification of 8 MLCs — 6 Congress and 2 JD(S) — by taking the issue to Raj Bhavan.
A party delegation, led by Leader of the Opposition in Legislative Assembly Jagadish Shettar, submitted a memorandum to Governor Vajubhai Vala urging him to issue directions to the authorities concerned for disqualification of the 8 MLCs who are facing allegations of providing false address to vote during the BBMP mayoral election and drawing travel allowance illegally.
The MLCs include R B Timmapur, who was inducted into Siddaramaiah’s cabinet on Friday, Raghu Achar, Allum Veerabhadrappa, N S Boseraju, S Ravi, M D Lakshminarayana (Congress), C R Manohar and Appaji Gowda (JD-S). They are facing the threat of disqualification as Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner N Manjunath Prasad, who is also the district Electoral Officer, submitted a report to the office of Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of Karnataka Anil Kumar Jha stating that they provided false information about their residential address in order to vote in BBMP polls and claiming travelling allowance by submitting fake bills.
“As per the enclosed records in the report submitted by Manjunath Prasad, there is a clear violation of Section 31 of the Representation of People Act, 1951, while getting the names enrolled as voters in electoral rolls. The RPA emphatically states that there should be a clear seven days’ notice from the day of applying to get the name entered and the actual date on which the name was entered. In this particular instance, the MLCs got their names entered in the electoral roll within 24 hours,” the BJP has said in the memorandum.
Timmapur claims he is clean
R B Timmapur claimed that he had not committed any illegal act. He accused BJP of making it a big issue to thwart his entry into the ministry. “The BJP leaders want to prevent a humble Dalit like me from getting a ministerial berth. I am not bothered about their agitation and will continue my duty of serving the people,” he said.