The State Election Office”s Flying Surveillance Team (FST) seized Rs 4.8 crores from Karnataka a day before the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections. Following the seizure of cash, the poll body”s Static Surveillance Teams (SST) of Chikkaballapura Constituency in Karnataka has lodged an FIR against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate and former minister K Sudhakar. The case was registered at Madanayakanahally Police Station.
The BJP candidate was booked for violating the Model Code of Conduct (MCC)under the 123 of the RP Act and 171(B, C, E, F) of the IPC noting bribery and undue influence on electors. The Election Commission informed in a post on X.
The FST of Chikkaballapura seized cash worth 4.8 Crores. An FIR also has been lodged by the SST team of Chikkaballapura Constituency against K Sudhakar, BJP Candidate on 25.04.2024 at Madanayakanahally Police Station.
— Chief Electoral Officer, Karnataka (@ceo_karnataka) April 26, 2024
The case was seized from a house in Yelahanka, a region in the Chikkaballapura constituency. Many bundles of Rs 500 were discovered from the house belonging to Govindappa. Notably, the BJP candidate was booked after the officials questioned the house owner, Decan Herald reported quoting election officials.
The Income Tax department has arrived at the sight, and is learnt to have taken the case for further investigation.
With this, the election commission has seized about Rs 50 crore worth of cash liquor, narcotics drugs, precious metals, gift articles etc from across Karnataka
The voting in Karnataka is slated to be conducted in two phases. Polling for 14 out of the total 28 constituencies in Karnataka has been underway in the second phase of the general elections. The voting for the remaining seats will be conducted on May 7.