Udupi: Election commission issues notice to Karkala MLA

Pics: Umesh Marpalli
Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (EP)

Udupi, Feb 17: The election commission has issued notice to Karkala MLA V Sunil Kumar, who is also the chief whip of the opposition in the Karnataka Assembly for violating the election code of conduct.

The notice was issued based on a letter of complaint dated November 11, 2013 by Shubadh Rao, member of Karkala municipal council.

The complaint states that V Sunil Kumar had printed handbills for the elections for Legislative Assembly held in May 2013 with pictures of Karkala Bhagwan Bahubali, St Lawrence Church, Attur, Karkal, Koti Chennaya and other deities, thereby contravening the elections code of conduct.

Shubhada Rao said that people's belief in God should be in their heart and not in the handbills. "The candidates should state the development programmes by them and not show the pictures of gods. It is BJP's old habit to politicize votes for religion and that he has complained to the election commission so that the party stops such malpractices at least after this," he said.

"The religious pictures shown in the handbills are not the property of any one party. They are symbols of universal beliefs. While there are followers of those religions in all the parties, how could they restrict the beliefs to one party," he asked, adding that the complaint based on those points has received positive response and that he is confident that the election commission would take suitable action in the matter.