NEW DELHI: The Congress on Friday approached the Election Commission urging them to act against BJP leader B Sriramalu and bar him from fighting the Karnataka elections. Citing a video, the Congress in its letter to the EC said: "The evidence gives rise to serious questions and allegations about certain heinous and deplorable criminal activities being indulged in by the BJP's candidate Shri. B. Sriramulu." Sriramulu is BJP's candidate for Molakalmunt as well as Badami Assembly Constituencies in Karnataka.
The Congress has alleged that the video is a clear cut evidence which relates to grave corrupt practices including attempting to bribe a Supreme Court judge. "In a forty-minute video that has been made public and broadcast widely in the regional Kannada media on the evening of May 100, 2018, it is clearly seen that the candidate Shri. B. Sriramulu and been other individuals (identified as G. Janardhan Reddy, Captain Reddy and Swamiji) are seen sitting with the son-in-law of a former Chief Justice of India. The discussions between them, as seen in the video and reported by the media, relate to the payment of money to the Son-in-law to secure a favourable judgment of the Supreme Court for the Reddy brothers. Upon viewing the video, there can be no doubt as to the agenda of the meeting taking place," the Congress alleged.
Sriramulu-Judge Bribery Sting exposes the ‘Bhrashta Janaradhana Party’
We requested the EC to direct immediate disqualification of Sriramulu & direct CEO Karnataka to lift injunction on Kanadda TV channels from showing the tapes
Our Memorandum to ECI- pic.twitter.com/EL5ABIfNIq
— Randeep Singh Surjewala (@rssurjewala) May 11, 2018
Demanding his candidature be cancelled, the party said: "It is the sacred Constitutional responsibility of the Hon'ble Election Commission to ensure that the integrity of the Karnataka Assembly Elections is paramount and no individual or party to which he may belong, is above the process of the law."
It also stated recalled the directives of the EC from April 2017 in which the poll body had held that candidates promoting corruption are to be treated on par with those charged with heinous crimes and must be barred from contesting polls fora certain period.
