BJP, Congress leaders spar in Haveri over vote chori during Council polls

BJP workers staging protest in front of the Congress office in Haveri on Monday accusing its leaders of vote chori during Legislative Council elections.

Haveri, on Monday, saw leaders from both the BJP and the Congress accusing each other of vote chori.

While the BJP staged a protest seeking action against election malpractice, Congress leaders addressed a press conference on the same issue accusing the BJP of indulging in it.

Scores of BJP members led by their leaders staged a demonstration outside the office of the Congress in Haveri saying that the Congress is involved in election malpractice.

Leading the demonstration, the BJP leaders said that Shilpa Badammanavar, a member of the Haveri taluk guarantee committee, impersonated Asha Patil, wife of District Congress president Sanjeevkumar Niralgi, to cast a vote.

They said that they have lodged a complaint with the election authorities demanding a detailed inquiry.

In connection with the incident, a non-cognisable report has been registered at the Haveri Town Police Station against Shilpa Badammanavar.

They said that voter impersonation took place at the behest of district in-charge Minister Rudrappa Lamani and officials concerned were hand-in-glove.

They demanded the resignation of Mr. Lamani and the suspension of all poll officials of the booth where the incident took place.

Although the protestors tried to lay a siege to the Congress office, they were stopped by the police resulting in an altercation for some time.

Meanwhile, an unconfirmed report saying that one of the protestors threw a stone at the Congress office led to confusion for some time. This was subsequently resolved with the intervention of the party leaders.

BJP workers staging a protest in front of the Congress office in Haveri on Monday accusing its leaders of vote chori.

Meanwhile, at the press conference in Haveri, Congress leaders countered the BJP accusing its functionaries of arranging similar violations.

Congress leader Prasanna Hiremath said that unidentified women exercised their franchise in the names of relatives of BJP leaders.

He said that unidentified people cast votes in the names of family members of the former municipal council member Shivabasava Vannalli and BJP leader Nagaraj Harigol.

He said that the votes of Aishwarya Harigol and Varsha Harigol, relatives of Nagaraj Harigol, and Keerthi Vannalli, a relative of Vannalli, were cast by bogus voters.

He said that all three worked in a private company in Bengaluru and did not come to Haveri on the polling day. However, their votes were cast by unidentified women, he said and added that he has information about it.

Mr. Hiremath said that the party has already filed a complaint with election officials. It will submit additional material to the Election Commission. Attendance records of the three will be sought from their respective companies to establish whether they were on duty on polling day, he said.

He said that the party suspected that around 25-30 more bogus votes might have been cast. It is in the process of accumulating supporting material before filing further complaints.

Meanwhile, following the allegation of voter impersonation during polling in the Karnataka West Graduates Constituency at booth no 85 in Haveri on Friday, APRO V.G. Mallur, a government teacher on election duty, has been suspended for negligence and dereliction of duty.

Deputy Commissioner of Gadag Vijay Mahantesh Danammanavar has issued the order.