Udupi: Anupama Shenoy, former Deputy Superintendent of Police and Secretary General of Bharatiya Janashakti Party, said on Friday that she would be contesting from the Kaup Assembly Constituency in Udupi district in the forthcoming State Assembly elections.

Speaking to presspersons here, Ms. Shenoy said that the Election Commission has alloted Lady’s Fingre’ as a symbol for her Party for the upcoming Assembly elections.

She further informed that minimum 30 candidates will be fielded from the party which is being led by Mahadev Babu.

Though her party had already announced the names of 15 candidates, it was likely to field another 15 candidates, she said.

Names of 15 candidates:

Abhishek Gowda-Kanakpura, Harish Narayan Gandhi-Chamrajpete, Ashwini Desai-Bilgi, Durgesh Megalmani-Haveri, Lakshmi Ramayya Shetty-KR Pura, Praveen Kumar-Chamundeshwari, Rakesh Teli-Vijayapura, Saifullah-Vijayanagara, Vaseem Ahmed-Byatarayanpura, Mallikarjun Chauhan-Badami, Shyamsundar Kulkarni-Chitradurga, Raghvendra-CV Raman nagar, Basavaraj Nalwadad-Hungund, Sharanappa Bhimshah Jhulki-Alanda, Venkatesh Uppar-Raichur and Anupama Shenoy-Kapu.

She said that those interested in contesting from the party from Udupi, Dakshina Kannada, Uttar Kannada, Chikkamagaluru regions could approach her or call on 9480915985 or 9448394978.

 “But it was imperative that they should have no criminal background and should know to read and write Kannada. They would be chosen only after a screening,” Ms. Shenoy added.

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Lucknow (Farrukhabad): A viral video has surfaced showing a 16-year-old son of a BJP worker allegedly casting eight votes to the saffron party during the ongoing general elections in Uttar Pradesh. The video has sparked controversy, and the opposition has urged for prompt action from the Election Commission of India, reports scroll.in.

The video shared by the Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Yadav on micro-blogging site ‘X’, showed the youngster recording himself while casting multiple times in a series of instances. The incident reportedly took place in Khiri Pamaran village, which falls under the Aliganj Assembly constituency within the Farrukhabad parliamentary seat. Mukesh Rajput, the sitting MP, is the BJP candidate in this constituency. Polling in Farrukhabad occurred on May 13 during the fourth phase of the general election.

In the viral video, the youngster is seen casting eight votes in total, all for the BJP, one by one with different clippings.

The youngster in the video has been identified as Rajan Singh Thakur, confirmed his father, Anil Singh Thakur to the Scroll.in. Anil Singh Thakur is the gram pradhan (village head) of Khiri Pamaran and a member of the BJP.

Anil defending his son told the Scroll that the ‘Video misrepresented his son,’ and claimed that the voting was done when the machine was being tested in some instances and other clipping of him voting on behalf of mentally and physically disabled voters was merged and made into a video.

Despite the Anil's caims, the video has drawn significant criticism. Subhash Chandra Prajapati, the additional district magistrate of Farrukhabad, confirmed to the Scroll that the administration will file a case soon. He mentioned that the returning officer is investigating the matter following a directive from the chief electoral officer in Lucknow.

The opposition has been vocal in its criticism, with Akhilesh Yadav demanding action from the Election Commission. In his social media post, Yadav accused the BJP of undermining the electoral process and described the party's booth committee as a "loot committee." The Congress party also called on the Election Commission to take action, in a ‘X’ post the party wrote, “Dear Election Commission…are you watching..a boy is voting 8-8 times ... .at least wake up now.”

Congress leader Rahul Gandhi, took to ‘X’ to express, “Fearing and seeing their defeat, the BJP is attempting to undermine democracy by pressuring government machinery to deny the mandate. The Congress expects all officers performing election duties to remember their constitutional responsibilities despite any pressure from those in power. Otherwise, once the Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA) bloc government is formed, actions will be taken to ensure that anyone will think ten times before violating their 'Oath to the Constitution'."

Following the video's circulation, Naval Kishor Shakya, the Samajwadi Party candidate in Farrukhabad, filed a complaint with the district election officer. Shakya's complaint alleges that Rajan Singh Thakur cast votes after snatching voter information slips from other voters and that he was assisted by Dinesh Thakur, the local police station's station house officer. Shakya has called for re-polling at the affected polling center.

In a related incident earlier in May, Gujarat Police arrested two BJP workers for allegedly casting bogus votes and live-streaming the act on social media in the Dahod constituency. The Election Commission conducted re-polling at the affected booth following the incident.

The opposition INDIA bloc, including the Congress and the Samajwadi Party, has repeatedly accused the Election Commission of failing to take prompt action against election model code of conduct violations.