Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru

Bengaluru, Oct 21: A complaint has been registered on Tuesday by the Karnataka Congress against BJP candidate Munirathna with the Chief Election Commissioner on allegations of influencing voters with money. Munirathna is the BJP candidate who is contesting in the bye-election from RR Nagar constituency.

The Opposition has claimed that Munirathna and his team of workers had unduly influenced voters with money and valuable gifts. "The BJP candidate and its workers have been paying Rs 5,000 and more to every voter to ensure that they vote in favour of the BJP", read the complaint by Congress. It highlighted payments made to residents in RR Nagar's BK Nagar area, in the Lakshmidevinagar ward of Bengaluru.

Further, the complaint stated that BJP workers had taken away the voter ID cards of persons suspected of not voting for the BJP. It is believed that this was done so that these votes are not cast in the upcoming bye-elections which are set to be held on November 3.

Munirathna joined the BJP after leaving the Congress along with other party leaders. They pledged their support to BS Yediyurappa, who went on to become the chief minister of the state.

Munirathna has been elected two times on the Congress ticket from the RR Nagar constituency - once in 2013, and the next time in 2018. He then left Congress to join BJP in 2019.

In May 2018, the Assembly polls in this constituency were challenged in the Karnataka High Court by BJP leader Muniraju Gowda, who alleged that there was electoral malpractice. Voting in RR Nagar took place more than two weeks after voting in the rest of the state at that time. This was due to a large-scale seizure of voter ID cards ahead of the polling, from an apartment in the constituency. Munirathna, who was the Congress candidate, was named as an accused in the police investigation. The BJP had, at the time, led protests against Munirathna with top party leaders, asking the city police to investigate the hoard of voter ID cards found in the apartment.

As the matter was still in court, RR Nagar bye-election could not be held in December 2019 along with those held in the other parts of the state. Munirathna was cleared by the High Court in February and more recently by the Supreme Court to contest in the bye-election. He was also picked over Muniraju Gowda as the BJP candidate. Meanwhile, Congress fielded H Kusuma, wife of late IAS officer DK Ravi, as its candidate in the polls.