The commission, however, said that the polls will be held as scheduled on June 11. as it does not find the whole election process is so vitiated… that it should not be permitted to continue.
Taking cognisance of sting operations and news reports, the Election Commission has ordered filing of an FIR against Mallikarjuna Khuba, an independent MLA of Karnataka assembly, and some other MLAs, for allegedly demanding huge sum of money for casting his vote during the forthcoming elections for Rajya Sabha seats.
The commission, however, said that the polls will be held as scheduled on June 11. as it does not find the whole election process is so vitiated… that it should not be permitted to continue.
The Commission has decided not to defer the Poll Scheduled to be held on the 11th June, 2016, nor to make any Recommendation to the President for rescinding the electoral process for the biennial election under reference, the order signed by chief election commissioner (CEC) Nasim Zaidi said.
"The Commission hereby directs the Returning Officer for the biennial election to Rajya Sabha by members of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly to file an FIR against Mallikarjuna Khuba, and others involved, under the provisions of section 171B of the Indian Penal Code and the relevant provisions of the Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988," the order said.
In a sting operation, whose raw footage has been vetted by the election commission, Khuba is seen openly demanded a certain amount of money for casting his vote in favour of the candidate of the party which gives him such money by stating that 'If you want my vote, it will not be one or two crore. Give election money, it is settled. My offer is above 5 crore. For team it is same rate.''
Khuba also stated that he can manage to procure the votes of certain other MLAs if they are also paid the price mentioned by him for them.
The Commission said it would also separately address the Ministry of Personnel to instruct the Central Bureau of Investigation to take up the matter for proper investigation.
The election commission, however, said 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.
In Karnataka, 4 seats are required to be filled against the three 3 seats that are going to fall vacant on June 30, 2016 while one post of Vijay Mallya is already vacant since May 4, 2016. The five contesting candidates to fill the 4 seats from the Karnataka include Jairam Ramesh, Oscar Farnandes, and K.C. Ramamurthy from Congress, B.M. Farook from JDS and Nirmala Sitharaman from BJP.
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