BENGALURU: The Congress on Monday urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to take action against BJP state and central leaders for alleged conspiracy to distribute money to voters during the elections.
The party submitted a complaint to the ECI through Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Karnataka.
Congress leaders alleged that former minister and Gokak MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi had on January 22 stated that the BJP would pay Rs 6,000 to each voter and it is part of a larger conspiracy to distribute Rs 30,000 crore to voters in the state. The party had earlier filed a complaint with the police seeking action against Jarkiholi, Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, BJP state president Nalin Kumar Kateel and BJP national president JP Nadda.
The Congress urged the ECI to conduct an inquiry into it and take steps to ensure that the integrity of ensuing elections is maintained.
Meanwhile, Congress MLA from the Shivajinagar Assembly segment in Bengaluru Rizwan Arshad alleged that Electoral Registration Officer, Shivajinagar Assembly constituency, has initiated a suo-moto process to delete 9,195 votes in the segment. In a letter to the CEO, the MLA alleged that out of 9,195 votes selected for deletion 8,000 are Minority community voters. He urged the CEO to stop the process.