In the 2019 election, Tejasvi Surya defeated Congress's BK Hariprasad and won the seat by an impressive margin of over 3 lakh votes.Congress leader Soumya Reddy, who will be facing BJP’s Tejasvi Surya in the Bengaluru South in the Lok Sabha selections, has alleged that students are being forced to attend the BJP leader’s nomination rally today. She has appealed to the Election Commission to take action in the matter.
In a post on X, Reddy shared screenshots of WhatsApp messages circulating among college groups, allegedly asking students to participate in Surya’s nomination rally. One such message used phrases like “no excuses will be entertained” and promised incentives such as t-shirts and attendance credits raising serious questions.
The message circulating on student WhatsApp groups of Jain College in VV Puram, Basavanagudi said, “Tomorrow, all the members of the student council have to assemble near maiyas hotel Jaynagar at 9.0 AM for Tejaswi Surya rally. You’ll be getting T-shirt so don’t be late. Everyone has to be there at the reporting time and no excuses will be entertained. You will be getting attendance for this. Thank You! (sic)”
One of the screenshot shows a member of the WhatsApp group asking why attendance is mandatory. Another user replies that Surya had apparently accepted the student council’s request to attend the college’s fest and “now it’s our turn to do the same”.
Jain College principal Naveen Kumar CM told The News Minute that the college had not asked students to participate in Tejasvi’s rally. “We are investigating (the attendance claims) and will take strict action against whoever initiated this,” he said.
The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) also flagged this apparent manipulation, questioning the necessity of compelling students to attend a political event, which could potentially breach the electoral code of conduct. Reddy echoed these concerns directing attention to the Chief Electoral Officer of Karnataka and urging swift action.
Meanwhile, Surya’s camp has yet to respond to these allegations. However, they have shared video clips featuring youngsters excited about participating in the BJP MP’s nomination rally.
Surya, the incumbent MP from Bangalore South, inherited this BJP stronghold previously held by the late Ananth Kumar, a stalwart of the BJP. In the 2019 election, Surya defeated Congress’s BK Hariprasad and won the seat by an impressive margin of over 3 lakh votes.
Soumya Reddy is the daughter of Karnataka Minister Ramalinga Reddy and a former MLA from Jayanagar, one of the eight Assembly segments under the Bangalore South parliamentary constituency.