Siddaramaiah sore with Election Commission over Mysore

Bengaluru: Implying that the Election Commission had not been completely non-partisan when they asked him to exit Mysore ahead of Lok Sabha elections, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah shot off a letter on Monday to the EC, alleging that the district election authorities had misinterpreted the rules on the presence of political functionaries in a constituency after campaigning comes to an end.

Acting on the BJP candidate, Pratap Simha's complaint, the election commission officials in Mysore had asked Mr Siddaramaiah to leave Mysore city when campaigning came to end on April 15.

Mr Siddaramaiah contends in his letter, that his stay in Mysore was not a violation as the EC's rule was applicable during by-elections and not general or Assembly elections. In addition, he said Varuna constituency was part of Chamarajanagar constituency, and a part of Mysore taluka. Located, less than a kilometre from Mysore, voters from his constituency often met him in Mysore, he said.

“My intention was to stay in my home in Mysore on April 16 and then go to Siddramanahundi, my ancestral village where I am a voter. But, on the evening of April 16, district election authorities acting on a complaint lodged by representatives of the BJP, asked me to leave Mysore,” he said.