BENGALURU: With five days to go for polling to fill four vacancies in Rajya Sabha, the row over cash for vote took a new turn on Monday with secretary of the Legislative Assembly, S Murthy, seeking a report from Chief Minister Siddaramiah on his reported promise to release Rs 100 crores for development of their constituencies in return for their support to ruling party candidates.
Mr Murthy wrote to Mr Siddaramaiah at the behest of the Election Commission of India (ECI) which received a complaint from JD(S) spokesperson, Ramesh Babu, the Chief Minsiter had offered to release Rs 100 crores for development of constituencies of independent MLAs. A similar letter was also sent to independent legislator P Rajiv. In his complaint, Mr Ramesh Babu had quoted reported statements of energy minister, D K Shivakumar, independent MLAs, P Rajiv and Ashok Kheny, after meeting Mr Siddaramaiah on May 27. The legislators had said the Chief Minister offered to release Rs 100 crore each for their constituencies and therefore they would support Congress candidates in Rajya Sabha elections. This amounted to corrupt practices, bribery and influence of money in the election process and therefore the elections ought to be postponed, Mr Ramesh Babu said in his complaint to ECI.
Mr Murthy told the media here that a letter was also dispatched to the secretary, department of finance, on whether additional funds were released in recent days, particularly after announcement of Rajya Sabha polls, to constituencies of independent legislators. Though a notice was issued to Mr Rajiv, seeking an explanation about his statement in the media, Mr Rajiv was not available on phone, Mr Murthy added.
Meanwhile, Mr Murthy, also returning officer (RO) for Rajya Sabha elections, received video clippings of the sting operation carried out television channels on bribery charges and sent a report to the Chief Election Commissioner. In all, seven people were visible in the video, including Mr Ashok Kheny, JD (S) candidate Mr Farookh, Congress candidate Mr K C Ramamurthy, deputy Mayor and two other individuals. “I cannot disclose details of the report,” he added.
