BENGALURU: The Election Commission accepted the nomination papers filed by KPCC president D K Shivakumar to contest from the Kanakapura Assembly constituency, during the scrutiny held on Friday. “His (Shivakumar) nomination papers are in order and have been accepted,” informed Returning Officer Santhosh.
Seven-time MLA Shivakumar will now take on Revenue Minister R Ashoka in Kanakapura in a high-voltage fight between the two Vokkaliga leaders.
Amidst fear that his papers may get rejected in the wake of the Karnataka High Court rejecting his plea against a CBI probe into alleged corruption charges, Shivakumar’s younger brother D K Suresh on Thursday had also filed his nomination papers from the same seat. Now with Shivakumar’s papers, filed on Monday, being accepted, Suresh’s nomination papers automatically get rejected as the latter had filed the papers as a substitute.
Suresh cited an alleged conspiracy by the BJP and filed the nominations as a precautionary measure following the directions of the party leadership. Shivakumar had also expressed concern that there was a conspiracy against him with his affidavit being downloaded by over 5,000 persons mainly from the BJP.
“In this age of technology, who keeps tabs on who, and who downloads can be known. The BJP IT Cell had reportedly verified my affidavit,” he told reporters on Friday morning, a few hours before his nomination papers were accepted.
“Last time itself, there were attempts to reject my papers. But I went before the IT department and furnished my information. Yet, the harassment has prevailed, though I have not purchased any properties except for a house,” he claimed.