Party candidate's retreat: BJP asks ECI to put off tomorrow's polls in Ramanagara

In a late night email, the BJP Karnataka unit has urged the Election Commission of India (ECI) to postpone the bypolls in Ramanagara constituency, scheduled for tomorrow, in the light of its candidate L.Chandrashekar announcing his retirement from contest. The party delegation will also meet the ECI officials today to press their demand.

The request followed a flash announcement by L.Chandrashekar, the BJP candidate for Ramanagara Assembly constituency, his withdrawal from the contest on Thursday, the last day of campaigning for bypolls scheduled tomorrow in a swift U-turn. He not just retreated from contest, but also announced his support to JD(S) nominee Anitha Kumaraswamy, Chief Minister H.D.Kumaraswamy's wife backed by the Congress.

"The act on the part of the candidate of our party is analogous to death of our candidate as contemplated under section 52 of the (Representation of People's) Act," BJP SC Morcha National General Secretary Chi Na. Ramu said in his application. The ECI countermands elections in the event of death of a candidate. "In this unprecedented situation conduct of free and fair elections is impossible which has been affected by the unprecedented declaration of retirement from contest by BJP candidate which creates confusion in the minds of voters and derails the election process," he said.

Chandrashekar had switched over to the BJP weeks before bypolls, expressing his frustration against the Congress joining hands with the JD(S). He was seen, at the time, as the first Congressman to voice his protest at the party cosying up to the JD(S) at the risk of eroding its own base in the district. His father is C.M.Lingappa is a former Congress MLA, and heads the district unit of the Congress. Nevertheless, he crossed over to the BJP at the invitation of C.P.Yogeshwar, a sworn rival of both CM H.D.Kumaraswamy and Congress minister D.K. Shivakumar.

The Nov 3 byelection was caused by the resignation of Kumaraswamy, who won on JD(S) ticket from both Ramanagara and Channapattana. In Channapattana, he defeated BJP candidate C.P.Yogeshwar, and chose to retain that seat. He ceded Ramanagara to wife Anitha, who now enjoys the support of the Congress, as the common candidate of the Congress-JD(S) coalition regime.