Vatal Nagaraj seeks EC probe

Mysuru: Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha leader Vatal Nagaraj has asked the Election Commission to conduct a thorough inquiry into the method of the Karanataka Assembly elections. He has asked the commission to probe the alleged faults of the EVMs and the misuse of caste and financial power in the run-up to the polls. He said that the electoral process was an important feature of democracy and that the Assembly elections had made it into an anti-democratic exercise, betraying the trust of the people in the elections.

He said that complaints of faulty EVMs were reported not only from Chamarajanagar and Mysuru city, but also in several constituencies in North Karnataka including the Hubballi-Dharwad segment where former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar had contested. Nagaraj had contested from the Chamarajanagar Assembly constituency and he said that he had lost due to the influence of caste and money in the elections.

Nagaraj reminisced about his earlier elections from Chamarajanagar and Chikpete constituencies a few decades ago, when people did not vote based on caste. He opined that the voters were innocent and it was the candidates who were misleading them on caste lines. He asserted that he would never use caste as a means of victory and added that he was truly secular.