Daijiworld Media Network - Mangaluru (SP)

Mangaluru, Jul 26: Relating to a writ petition filed by defeated Congress candidate, J R Lobo, accusing his rival of registering victory on the basis of defects in electronic voting machines, the state high court (HC) has issued notices to nine persons including city (south) constituency MLA, D Vedavyasa Kamath.  

In his petition, Lobo had said that the EVM functioning was found to be improper during the counting. At the same time, he also said that Kamath's wife had urged the voters to vote for her husband for the protection of Hindutva, duly pointing out that this is a case of violation of election code of conduct. Lobo wants the election of Kamath to be declared as null and to order the election commission to henceforth use ballot papers instead of electronic voting machines for elections. 

J R Lobo and Vedavyasa Kamath

At the same time, the HC has issued notice to BJP MLA from Jagalur, S V Ramachandra. This notice was served on the basis of writ petition filed by defeated Congress candidate, H V Rajesh. Rajesh has claimed that Ramachandra belongs to Maratha community, but during the election, he had filed fake caste certificate with the election commission, and fought election from Jagalur, which was reserved for scheduled tribe, and won from there.  

Rajesh has asked the high court to evict Ramachandra from the position of MLA, and declare himself, who got second highest votes, as having been elected. The high court issued notices to ten persons including election commission.