Centre may use police to target Congress, says Karnataka former CM Siddaramaiah

MYSURU: Leader of the opposition Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said the Union government might use IT officials and police to target the Congress during the elections.
Asking the Election Commission (EC) to conduct free and fair elections, he said he will ask Congress workers to be vigilant and follow the guidelines. Accusing the EC officials of failure in executing their duties during the by-polls to 17 assembly segments in 2019, he said: “BJP candidates spent Rs 30-Rs 50 crore for elections. What did the EC do?”
He accused the BJP of introducing election malpractices in the state by conducting Operation Lotus and poaching the MLAs from the opposition camps. Siddaramaiah said the single phase election is good. He added that the party is ready since he has covered 60 segments, while KPCC chief DK Shivaumar has visited 50-60 segments across the state. We have visited districts headquarters of 22 districts, he said.
Siddaramaiah said JD(S) and BJP might enter into a secret pact to defeat Congress in the polls in Old Mysuru and in other parts of the state where it is strong.
‘Modi cannot attend govt event due to poll code’
Siddaramaiah on Wednesday said Prime Minister Modi cannot attend a government event in Mysuru on April 9 as the poll code will be implemented following the declaration of the elections. He said that Modi can visit Mysuru for campaigning, but not to attend the government event. Modi is scheduled to visit Mysuru to attend the 50th anniversary of Project Tiger.
Checkposts set up
Chamarajanagar district authorities have set up 11 inter-state border and eight inter-district checkposts to keep a vigil ahead of the assembly election till May 15, when model code of conduct concludes. Chamarajanagar deputy commissioner DS Ramesh said the district has 8,54,257 voters, including 4.31 lakh women voters.
The district has four constituencies and 982 polling stations. As per records, the border district has 23,300 voters aged above 80 years and about 11,965 physically challenged voters. Padmini Sahoo, SP, Chamarajanagar said the inter-state checkposts will be manned by police along with other department officials.