BENGALURU: A day after BJP candidate DN Jeevaraj was declared winner of the Sringeri Assembly election following recounting of postal ballots, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Tuesday accused leaders of the saffron party of “criminal conspiracy” and tampering with the votes. Blaming BJP leaders of “vote dacoity”, he said Congress will legally challenge the returning officer’s decision to declare Jeevaraj the winner.
“Around 250 votes that were cast for Congress candidate TD Rajegowda had been altered. The ballot papers were manipulated through officials during recounting and this is nothing but a conspiracy,” he told reporters.
The CM pointed out that Rajegowda won the last election by 201 votes, securing 59,171 votes, while Jeevaraj got 58,970 votes. Rajegowda had polled 58,602 votes in EVMs and 569 through postal ballots. Jeevaraj secured 58,278 in EVMs and 692 through postal ballots.
In 2023, the postal ballots were declared valid and result was announced with signatures from election officials and agents. “All the documents were kept inside a trunk, sealed. At that time, the BJP government was in power in the state and the Centre. BJP leaders have tampered with the votes. It’s a criminal conspiracy,’’ he alleged.
He charged that BJP had earlier attempted to tamper with the voters’ list through an organisation called Chilume. In Aland, genuine voters were left out. “The BJP never had faith in democracy or the Constitution, nor in free and fair elections. They do not hesitate to commit such offences. There is no point in Union ministers and Opposition leaders defending this. In the coming days, people will teach them a lesson,’’ he said.
After Rajegowda won the 2023 polls, Jeevaraj filed a case before the Karnataka High Court, which ordered recounting of postal ballots and it was done on May 2.
He claimed that during the counting of postal ballots in 2023, 255 votes were accepted in favour of Rajegowda by all counting agents from the BJP, Congress, JDS and independents. “Twelve candidates contested from the Sringeri Assembly constituency in 2023. All of them accepted that the 255 votes were valid. But now a second mark was found on the votes during recounting,” he said and accused Jeevaraj and other officials of manipulation.
“It’s a clear case of criminal conspiracy hatched by Jeevaraj and others. It was planned by BJP leaders. Immediately after the counting, the returning officer announced the result which he shouldn’t have. There was a central observer for the recounting process. He also noticed that there was tampering with the votes. After the recounting, the returning officer declared Jeevaraj winner by 52 votes,” Siddaramaiah said.
“We will prepare an appeal before a court challenging the announcement of the returning officer. For the time being, I don’t want to make allegations against the returning officer. But all I can say is that he announced the result without getting consent from the election commission observer, which is wrong. It is a criminal act by BJP and nothing but vote dacoity. After this, Rajegowda filed a complaint at the police station and also the election agent. We want transparency in election, free and fair polls,’’ he added.
