Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha leader Vatal Nagaraj has urged the Election Commission to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into not only the faulty Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), but also the misuse of caste and money power in the recently-concluded elections to the State Legislative Assembly.
Describing the electoral process as a crucial aspect of democracy, Mr. Nagaraj said the conduct of the recent elections was anything but democratic in view of the misuse of caste and money power by the candidates. The elections were reduced to an anti-democratic exercise and will soon lose the trust of people, he stated.
He said complaints of faulty EVMs were not only reported from Chamarajanagar, but also from Mysuru city and constituencies in North Karnataka including Hubballi-Dharwad from where former Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar contested. “Caste and money did me in,” said Mr. Nagaraj, who unsuccessfully contested from Chamarajanagar Assembly constituency in the recent Legislative Assembly elections.
Though the Election Commission had set ₹28 lakh as the expenditure ceiling for each candidate, several candidates, including the ones who had lost the elections, were publicly discussing how much money they spent.
“Things have reached such a sorry state that nobody can fight elections honestly now,” he said.
Mr. Nagaraj recalled his earlier elections from Chamarajanagar and Chikpete decades ago when people did not vote on the basis of caste. Even though the voters are innocent, it is the candidates, who are misleading the people on the basis of caste. “I will never use caste for elections. I am truly secular,” Mr. Nagaraj added.
