New Delhi, June 10: The Election Commission on Thursday decided not to defer or cancel the polling for the four Rajya Sabha seats from Karnataka.
The poll panel, however, sought a probe by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into alleged corrupt practices by some MLAs, as exposed by a “sting operation” by two television channels.
“In the present case, neither is there evidence nor even an allegation that any money has been paid or received to any elector as bribe for his vote,” the commission observed in a seven-page order issued on Thursday, a week after TV channels aired footages of the sting operation.
It noted that the election process had not been so vitiated by the alleged revelations by the TV channels that it would warrant deferment of the polls.
The EC, however, held that an FIR be lodged against Janata Dal (Secular) MLA Mallikarjun Khuba and others “under the provisions of Section 171 B of the Indian Penal Code and relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988”.
“The Commission holds that an FIR be lodged against Shri Mallikarjuna Khuba and others and the whole matter be entrusted to the Central Bureau of Investigation for such deeper probe so that all those who may be involved in such nefarious activities are exposed and duly punished under the law,” stated the poll panel headed by Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi.
The EC held that only Khuba was caught on camera demanding money for his vote. It, however, pointed out that the existing law did not permit it to prevent him or any other MLAs from casting their votes on Saturday. Neither could it disqualify any candidate, it added.
The EC examined the complaint by JD(S) over media statements by some independent MLAs of Karnataka regarding their decision to vote for the candidate of the ruling Congress with Chief Minister Siddaramaiah allegedly assuring them special grants for the development of their constituencies. The Commission also examined the footages of the sting operation provided by the two TV channels.
In the footage provided by one of the channels, the EC noted that only Khuba had openly demanded a certain amount of money for voting in favour of a particular candidate. He also stated that he could manage to procure the votes of certain other MLAs if they, too, were paid the price mentioned by him for them.
“There is no sufficient evidence on record to show whether any money really changed hands and whether any MLA, in fact, received any such illegal monetary inducement from any candidate or political party,” noted the Commission.
The footage provided by another channel included conversations by MLAs Ashok Kheny, N A Haris and Varthur Prakash, as well as two of the contesting candidates, B M Farook and K C Ramamurthy. But the EC noted that it was not made out that “any offer of money by any candidate to any specific MLA, or of any demand by a specific MLA for his personal aggrandisement as a price for his vote, was made.”
The EC stated that deferment of the poll or rescinding of the electoral process would mean that the whole Legislative Assembly consisting of 224 members would be “punished for some illegal action or misdemeanour of one of its members and denied its constitutional right to elect the state's representatives to the Rajya Sabha”. This would further mean that the whole state of Karnataka and its people would also be deprived of their full representation in the Rajya Sabha.
“Such punishment to the State Legislative Assembly and the people of Karnataka would not be commensurate with the demeaning act of a few members of its Legislative Assembly,” said the Election Commission.
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