Bengaluru, May 3 (). The Karnataka unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Sunday strongly criticized Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar’s comments on the recalculation of Sringeri assembly constituency, calling them ‘childish’ and alleging that they were an insult to the Constitution and the judiciary.
Leader of the Opposition in the Assembly, Chalvadi T. Narayanaswamy, in a statement issued after the recount process was completed, said Shivakumar’s comments were not only politically motivated but reflected the ‘height of despair’ on the part of the Congress.
He accused the party of being unable to accept the election results and making false statements.
Narayanaswami hit out at Shivakumar, saying his political frustration was understandable, but it should not be at the cost of undermining the dignity of the judiciary.
He urged the Congress to accept the public’s verdict and refrain from leveling allegations against officials and BJP candidate DN Jeevraj.
The BJP leader said the Sringeri decision reflects both the will of the people and protection of justice.
Questioning Shivakumar’s alleged characterization of the recount process as a criminal activity, Narayanaswamy said the process was carried out strictly as per the directions of the High Court.
He said, “By terming it a criminal act, they are indirectly raising questions on the judiciary itself. Such a dogmatic attitude is harmful for democracy.”
He alleged that the Congress does not trust both the electoral process and judicial institutions, and claimed that it has a history of targeting constitutional bodies whenever election results do not go in its favour.
Referring to the recount of votes held in Sringeri, the BJP leader said the process has exposed attempts at vote rigging and said the result is a reflection of the truth.
He also quoted a line from Kannada literature and said that when the truth becomes clear, efforts to mislead the public will not succeed.
Narayanaswamy rejected the allegations of misuse by officials as ‘baseless’ and said there is no scope for bias in the court-supervised process. He termed Congress’s hint of fighting a legal battle as an attempt to ‘hide its defeat’.
He said that raising questions on the transparency of counting of postal ballots is tantamount to raising doubts on the impartiality of the Election Commission.
Let us inform that after the completion of re-verification and recount of postal ballots in the Sringeri Assembly elections 2023 on the orders of Karnataka High Court, BJP had claimed victory. Deputy Chief Minister and Karnataka Congress president DK Shivakumar on Sunday alleged that there was a ‘large-scale conspiracy and well-planned crime’ in this assembly seat in Chikkamagaluru district, which he termed as a blot on the country and democracy.
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DKP/