BENGALURU: Even while most of the elected representatives and top candidates from the erstwhile
Karnataka Janata Paksha (
KJP) have secured tickets from the
BJP for the 2018 assembly elections, the Election Commission has overruled the merger of the party with the BJP by its present state president B S
Yeddyurappa in 2014.
In an April 11 order, the EC said the KJP continues to exist as an “unrecognised” political party in the state. KJP shot to prominence after Yeddyurappa took charge of it following a split with the saffron outfit in 2012-13.
However, by 2013-end Yeddyurappa was readmitted into the BJP. He later decided to lmerge the party with four of the six MLAs, who too joined the BJP.
However, the actual founder of the party Prasanna Kumar filed a petition in 2014 with the EC stating the party cannot be merged with the BJP. Four years later, the EC gave its ruling that the KJP continues to exist.
“It is evident that the party has not fully merged with the BJP. Thus, this is a case of merger of a group of the party which apparently constitutes a major faction of the party together with four out of six MLAs merging with the BJP. Therefore, the party cannot be said to have ceased to exist,” the EC order said..
As a result, the EC has directed that the KJP shall continue as a registered unrecognized political party in terms of Section 29A of the Representation of People Act, '1951 .