Bengaluru, April 24: A record number of 2,407 candidates are in the fray for the May 12 Karnataka assembly elections, as per the nominations received by the Election Commission till Tuesday, the last day for filing nominations.
The candidates included 244 candidates from the ruling Congress, 258 from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), 208 from Janata Dal-Secular (JD-S), 1,084 from Independents and 613 others from various regional and fringe outfits.
Of the 244 candidates of the Congress, only 15 are women. A total of 16 women have filed nominations as BJP candidates and 12 from JD-S. There are 56 other women contesting in the elections as Independents from various constituencies.
Among those who filed their nominations on Tuesday included Chief Minister Siddaramaiah from Badami in Bagalkot district, his second nomination besides Chamundeshwari in Mysuru district. He will face BJP MP B. Sreeramulu, who also filed his nomination from the assembly segment, in addition to Molakamuru (reserved) seat in Chitradurga district.
Congress on Tuesday fielded P. Ravikumar Ganiga from Mandya Assembly segment after the party's sitting MLA and popular star Ambareesh declined to contest though the party gave him the form required for nomination (Form-B) and tried to convince him in vain.
The party's state incharge K.C. Venugopal told the media here later that Ambareesh was not in fray for health issues but hoped he would campaign for the Congress as he was one of the most popular leaders in the state.
Polling will be held in a single phase on May 12 for 224 Assembly seats, including 36 reserved for the Scheduled Castes and 15 for the Scheduled Tribes. Votes will be counted on May 15.
Tuesday was the last date for filing nominations. Scrutiny will be on April 25 and the last date for withdrawal of candidature is April 27.
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ED gets MHA sanction to prosecute Arvind Kejriwal in excise policy case
New Delhi (PTI): The Union Home Ministry has granted sanction to the Enforcement Directorate to prosecute former Delhi chief minister and AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal in the excise policy linked money laundering case, officials said.
The federal agency has filed a chargesheet against the 56-year-old politician before a special Prevention of Money Laundering Act (PMLA) court here last year after arresting him in March.
The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) has recently granted the required sanction to the Enforcement Directorate (ED) for prosecuting Kejriwal under the anti-money laundering law in the Delhi excise policy case, officials said.
The development comes ahead of the Delhi Assembly on February 5.
Kejriwal has been made made an accused in his personal capacity as well as in the capacity of being the national convenor of his political party AAP.
The former chief minister was called the "kingpin and key conspirator" of the Delhi excise "scam" by the ED.
It was alleged that he acted in collusion with Delhi government minister, the AAP leaders and others.
The ED had earlier claimed that AAP, being a political party, is defined as an association or a body of individual citizens of India under the Representation of the People Act and hence it can be categorised as a "company" as contemplated under Section 70 of the PMLA.
As Kejriwal was "in-charge of and responsible" for the said company i.e. AAP during the time of offence, he and his party "shall be deemed guilty" of offences mentioned under the anti-money laundering law and liable to be prosecuted and punished, it had said.
The excise case pertains to alleged corruption and money laundering in formulating and executing the Delhi government's excise policy for 2021-22, which was later scrapped.
Delhi Lieutenant Governor V K Saxena had recommended a CBI probe into the alleged irregularities. Subsequently, the ED registered a case under the PMLA.
Taking cognisance of a CBI FIR lodged on August 17, 2022, the ED filed its money laundering case on August 22, 2022 to probe the alleged irregularities.
