Congress downplays sting operation, urges EC not to postpone RS polls

The Congress Party has urged the Election Commission of India not to postpone elections to four seats of the Rajya Sabha from Karnataka scheduled on June 11.

A Congress delegation led by party general secretary Digvijaya Singh today met Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi and submitted a petition for not countermanding the Rajya Sabha polls over reports of an alleged 'sting operation' conducted by TV news channels.

" We have requested the Chief Election Commissioner to allow the election to go on because there is no evidence, which leads to the countermanding of the elections, as it was the case in the Rajya Sabha elections in Jharkhand where the cash was recovered from the vehicle of one of the contestants," he told the media.

The Congress leader said an MLA has made some statement about development in his constituency, which is not personal gratification.

"Every MLC and MP is given a local area development fund. And even as the Rajya Sabha MP, I am being approached by the MLAs to give grants under the MP Local Area development funds. So, I think this is something which is not relating to an issue of quid pro-quo," he added.

The political parties in Karnataka have advocated for countermanding the Rajya Sabha polls over a "sting operation" that purportedly showed legislators negotiating a money deal in exchange for their votes in the biennial elections to four Rajya Sabha seats from the state.

The footage of "sting operation" by one channel showed a JD(S) lawmaker purportedly talking about money in crores of rupees for supporting a candidate while the one by another channel showed Congress candidate KC Ramamurthy and independent legislator purportedly speaking about getting enhanced development funds for the constituency by the government in return for votes.

BJP state president BS Yeddyurappa had earlier alleged that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah was the 'architect' behind these activities.

Janata Dal (Secular) spokesperson Ramesh Babu requested the Election Commission to take serious note on the corrupt practices going on in the Rajya Sabha polls and sought a proper inquiry.