Plea filed in K’taka HC seeking disqualification of B’luru BJP MLA

The petitioner Sowmya Reddy contended that she was ahead in the counting of votes of Electronic Voting Machies. But, things changed while counting postal ballot votes

Bengaluru: Former Congress MLA Sowmya Reddy, the defeated Congress candidate has filed a petition before the Karnataka High Court to disqualify BJP MLA C.K. Ramamurthy who won by a narrow margin of 16 votes from the Jayanagar assembly constituency in Bengaluru.

The bench headed by Justice S. Rachaiah looking into the petition has issued summons to BJP MLA Ramamurthy. The petitioner Sowmya Reddy contended that she was ahead in the counting of votes of Electronic Voting Machies (EVM). But, things changed while counting postal ballot votes.

---

While counting 827 votes, different total count numbers emerged every time. The postal ballot papers without concerned officers’ signatures were counted for voting, Sowmya Reddy claimed and sought the court’s direction for recounting 827 postal ballot votes. She also claimed that the vote-counting process has been videographed and the footage needs to be verified.

She pleaded before the court in her petition to disqualify BJP MLA Ramamurthy. The bench has issued summons to BJP MLA Ramamurthy and others and adjourned the matter to Sept 7. BJP candidate Rammurthy was declared the winner after the neck-and-neck dramatic competition that went past midnight, a re-verification of postal ballots by 16 votes.

This is the narrowest margin of victory in Karnataka elections. The Congress party had maintained that it will go to the court.