Surya made his debut in the 2019 polls and defeated senior Congress leader B K Hariprasad by over 3.30 lakh votes. (Express photo)
Amidst polling in the state in the phase 2 of the Lok Sabha elections, Karnataka’s Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Friday said a case has been booked against BJP’s sitting MP and Bangalore South candidate Tejasvi Surya for “posting a video in X (formerly Twitter) handle and soliciting votes on the ground of religion.”
The case against the national president of BJP’s youth wing Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha for violation of election code of conduct was registered on Thursday. Of the 28 constituencies, 14 are going to polls today, in the 2nd phase, while the remaining 14 will vote in the 3rd phase on May 7.
“Case is booked against Tejasvi Surya MP and Candidate of Bengaluru South PC on 25.04.24 at Jayanagar PS u/s 123(3) for posting a video in X handle and soliciting votes on the ground of religion,” the CEO, Karnataka posted on X.
The Bangalore South seat is a contest between the BJP’s firebrand leader Surya and the Congress’s Sowmya Reddy, who lost the 2023 Assembly polls from Jayanagar by just 16 votes.
As per EC data till 5 pm, Bangalore South recorded a voter turnout of 43.97 per cent, the lowest after Bangalore Central.
With an electorate of over 22 lakh, the constituency has been electing a BJP MP for the last eight consecutive times since 1996.
Surya made his debut in the 2019 polls and defeated senior Congress leader B K Hariprasad by over 3.30 lakh votes. BJP stalwart and ex-Union minister Ananth Kumar represented it six times between 1996 and 2014.
Karnataka recorded a voter turnout of 63.9 per cent till 5 pm on Friday.
