Siddaramaiah's election challenged

Bangalore, Feb 8 (UNI) The election of former Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister and Congress leader Siddaramaiah from the Chamundeshwari Assembly constituency has been challenged by Mr Shivabasappa of the ruling JD(S), the unsuccessful candidate in the December four byelection.

Mr Justice S V Jagannath granted time till February 15 to the petitioner to comply with the office objections and set right the defects in his election petition.

The petitioner submitted that he had lost the byelection, necessitated by Mr Siddaramaiah resigning the seat won on a JD(S) ticket, prior to joining the Congress, by a thin margin of 257 votes. While Mr Siddaramaiah had polled 1,15,512 votes of the total 2,44,491 cast, he had got 1,15,255 votes.

He contended that Mr Siddaramaiah had indulged in appeasing the voters in public meetings with images of Goddesses Gayathri and Chamundeshwari and attempted to promote enmity between different communities. He had also sought the assistance of a number of gazetted officers and police personnel, in violation of the provisions of the Representation of People Act.

UNI