The Congress lodged a formal complaint following Karnataka BJP MLA Ramesh Jarkiholi’s statement that he will be spending Rs 6,000 per voter for the upcoming assembly elections.
The complaint, filed by former CM Siddaramaiah and state Congress chief DK Shivakumar in Bengaluru, named Jarkiholi, BJP national president JP Nadda, chief minister Basavaraj Bommai and state unit chief Nalin Kumar Kateel.
The Congress alleged that Jarkiholi’s statement had the tacit approval of Nadda, Bommai and Kateel, calling it a “concerted design to bribe voters”.
“The Constitution says there should be free and fair elections, but where is it? Democracy will be destroyed if there’s no free and fair elections,” Siddaramaiah said.
“There is big corruption; they (BJP) are ready to spend Rs 6,000 per voter, there are 5 crore voters in Karnataka so they are willing to spend Rs 30,000 crore. They have received this money through 40% commision, everything is on record,” said Shivakumar.
Reacting to this, Bommai said, “The Congress has promised to give Rs 2,000 to every woman and 200 units of free power. Going by the same yardstick, are Congress leaders not guilty? Are they not making new promises to woo voters?”
The Congress has decided to take this complaint to the election commission later and, for now, has demanded that Bommai, Nadda, Kateel and Jarkiholi should be arrested.
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