CEO says polls to go ahead today

BENGALURU: A day after the party’s official candidate L Chandrashekhar retired from the contest, the state BJP on Friday petitioned the Election Commission (EC), seeking postponement of Saturday’s Ramanagara assembly bypoll.
“If Chandrashekar wins the election, he will be disqualified from becoming MLA since he has already resigned from the party, and will pave the way for another bypoll.Therefore, the election must be postponed to ensure free and fair polls,” BJP SC Morcha’s national general secretary CN Ramu said in his petition to EC.
Chief electoral officer Sanjiv Kumar said they received a formal complaint from the BJP, which was forwarded to the EC. “The election will be held on Saturday in Ramanagara as scheduled, and the result will be bound by the EC’s decision,” he added.
Kumar said rules simply do not permit them to postpone the bypoll. “There have been similar cases in the past in different parts of the country, but in no case has the Election Commission considered the plea of political parties to postpone the election other than the death of a candidate,” he added.
The BJP, however, is confident that their plea will be considered by the EC since there are several legal aspects that necessitate them to either postpone the polls or declare the election “null and void”.
In its complaint to EC, the BJP said the bypoll should be deferred under Section 52 of the Representation of People’s Act. “The EC countermands elections in the event of the death of a candidate. Our candidate’s withdrawal from the contest two days before elections is an act equivalent to his death and so it warrants postponement,” Ramu said.
“In this situation, conduct of free and fair elections is impossible as it is affected by the declaration of retirement from the contest by the BJP candidate, which creates confusion in the minds of voters and derails the election process,” he added.
Some BJP leaders also objected to Chandrashekar supporting JD(S) nominee Anitha Kumaraswamy. “He not only retracted from the contest, but also backed JD(S)- Congress nominee Anitha. This clearly suggests that there was some kind of lure and enticement to force our candidate to retire from the contest,” said a party leader.