Gowda accused of poll malpractices

BANGALORE, March 15: Senior Congress leader H C Srikantaiah, who unsuccessfully contested against former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda in th...

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BANGALORE, March 15: Senior Congress leader H C Srikantaiah, who unsuccessfully contested against former Prime Minister H D Deve Gowda in the recent Lok Sabha elections from Hassan, accused Gowda yesterday of "indulging in electoral malpractices" and urged the Election Commission to immediately declare the election of Gowda as "null and void".

In a six-page letter to the Chief Election Commissioner, a copy of which was released to the press here, Srikantaiah asked the commission to declare him as elected as he had secured the second-highest number of votes. Gowda had won by a margin of 32,000 votes.

Demanding an inquiry by an appropriate agency into the alleged malpractices committed by Gowda and his supporters during the elections, Srikantaiah said necessary action should be taken against the former Prime Minister. He added that in future, elections in the constituency should be held with the help of the armed forces.

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Srikantaiah said that in spite of three complaints, the authorities had failed totake necessary steps to avoid malpractices by Gowda. He alleged that officers of Gowda’s choice were posted in the district which seemed to be a "dictator’s paradise" with Gowda and his family in control.

He said the former Prime Minister, who was supposed to be a model personality, had thrown all decency and discipline to the winds in order to win the elections.

LS defeat: Congress candidate D Premachandra Sagar, former minister, has accused former Union minister M V Chandrashekara Murthy of being responsible for his defeat in the Kanakapura Lok Sabha constituency, in the recently concluded elections.

In a statement, he alleged that Murthy had actively campaigned against the Congress nominee as he had been denied a ticket. He had also contributed money to the BJP coffers, he alleged.

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"I was able to establish a record polling of 4,53,946 votes as compared to the tally of 4,70,387 votes secured by the winning BJP candidate M Srinivas. I lost the race by insignificant margin of 16,441 votesonly," he said. "While during the 1996 elections, Murthy, who was the Congress candidate, had secured only 3,33,420 votes," he added.