BENGALURU: Income Tax department officials conducted searches at the residence of a Congress leader in Rajarajeshwari Nagar on Sunday, a day before the constituency goes to polls. While no recovery was reported from the searches, the Congress accused the BJP of misleading people and spreading rumours about the raids.IT department officials conducted searches at the residence of block Congress president Ravi Gowda in RR Nagar following a tip-off about money being distributed to voters. Congress leaders claim the raid was a result of BJP workers spreading false information with an intention to harass Congress candidate Munirathna Naidu.
“Officials recorded a statement from our party worker. They neither found any money nor issued a notice. Yet, the BJP is spreading lies with the sole intention of influencing voters,” D K Suresh, Congress MP from Bengaluru Rural, told the media during an emergency press meet. Suresh accused the BJP of spreading false information about `5 crore being seized from the residence of Ravi Gowda. He also accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi and BJP president Amit Shah of misusing the Election Commission of India to get the IT department to conduct raid.
The BJP, meanwhile, filed a complaint with the EC opposing Suresh’s emergency press meet calling it a violation of the model code of conduct. The raids come on the eve of the high-stakes RR Nagar polls where Munirathna is in a straight fight with JD(S)’ Ramachandrappa. The poll was deferred after thousands of voter ID cards were found illegally hoarded in an apartment.