Independent candidate in poll-bound K'taka hands out election deposit fee in one rupee coins

Yadgir: A young, independent candidate in Yadgir gave electoral officers backbreaking work by paying his deposit money of Rs 10,000 entirely in one rupee coins, which he had collected from voters across the constituency in poll-bound Karnataka, to contest the May 10 Assembly election.

The deposit fee for each candidate in this year’s election is Rs 10,000.

The officers took two long hours to count the coins that were spread on the table at the office in Yadgir.

Yankappa, the independent candidate who filed his nomination papers from Yadgir constituency, reached the Tahsildar’s office on Tuesday with a banner hung around his neck.

The poster had the images of 12th century social reformer Basaveshwara, saint-poet of Karnataka Kanakadasa, Swami Vivekananda, Dr B R Ambedkar, and the preamble of the Constitution.

Below the images, a message written in Kannada read: ”Not just one rupee, with your one vote, you vote me one day, I will give you freedom from poverty.” The contestant said he travelled across the constituency by foot and collected the coins from the voters.

An arts graduate from Gulbarga University in Kalaburagi district, he has total assets of Rs 60,000 while his father Devindrappa owns one acre and 16 guntas of land (40 guntas equal one acre).