The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has lodged two complaints with the Chief Election Commissioner of India, demanding that the Ramanagaram byelection be annulled immediately. Its stand is that party candidate jumping ship to the Congress just days before the poll had “vitiated the electoral process and destroyed democracy”.
The BJP candidate, L. Chandrashekar, rejoined the Congress on Thursday, two days before polling, leaving the party with no candidate in the fray. “We have sent to the Election Commission (EC) a report of the facts before us and also the complaint that we have received. However, there is no provision under the Representation of People Act for withdrawal of candidature. The candidature is final,” Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar told The Hindu.
The BJP complaint says that while it has not withdrawn from the contest and its symbol still figures in the EVMs, its candidate had joined the Congress, violating several norms. “He is a candidate of the BJP and not an Independent candidate to act on his free will. Elections in India are held based on political parties and their ideologies. With the BJP having no representative in the fray, the election is vitiated,” the complaint says.
The party has also demanded that the EC book cases against D.K. Suresh, MP for Bengaluru (Rural), Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, and his wife Anitha, the coalition’s candidate for the Ramanagaram seat, for influencing Mr. Chandrashekar, which amounts to “fraud and horse-trading of candidate”.
Meanwhile, workers of the saffron party in the constituency are running a campaign seeking votes for the party irrespective of the candidate U-turn.