BJP expels rebels Sharath Bachegowda, Kaviraj Urs as they fail to withdraw from bypoll contest
Bengaluru, Nov 21: Ruling BJP in Karnataka on Thursday expelled from its primary membership rebels Sharath Bachegowda and Kaviraj Urs, contesting the coming assembly bypolls as independent candidates, for anti-party activity.
In separate letters to both Sharath Bachegowda fighting from Hoskote assembly constituency and Urs from Vijayanagara, BJP said, their contest against the party's official candidate was being considered as anti-party activity.
BJP on Wednesday had asked the party rebels to withdraw their candidature by Thursday, the last day for the process.
As the two did not withdraw their candidature, the sent the letters, a copy of which has been released to the media.
After the BJP gave the Hoskote ticket to disqualified Congress legislator M T B Nagaraj, Sharath Bachegowda has jumped into the fray as an independent.
JD(S) has decided to support him and has not fielded a candidate.
Son of BJP MP from Chikkaballapura B N Bachegowda, he had remained adamant on contesting with repeated attempts by the party leadership to persuade him to back out in vain.
Sharath Bachegowda, who was also secretary of BJP Yuva Morcha, had earlier been appointed Chairman of Karnataka Housing Board by Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa in an attempt to "pacify" him.
Yediyurappa had recently indicated the party has even decided to expel him, if he doesn't withdraw from the contest.
Nagaraj as Congress candidate had defeated Sharath Bachegowda in 2018 assembly polls by over 7,000 votes.
Urs has filed his nomination as independent candidate from Vijayanagara, rebelling against the BJPs decision to field Anand Singh, another disqualified MLA.
The party's decision to expel Urs comes after repeated attempts to "pacify" him.
With winning at least six seats crucial for the government's survival, BJP has fielded 13 of the 16 disqualified legislators, who joined the party, as its candidates from their respective constituencies in the bypolls.
Among the 15 constituencies going to bypolls, 12 were held by Congress and three by JD(S), whose coalition government collapsed due to rebellion by the disqualified MLAs.
The Congress and JDS, contesting the bypolls on their own, have vowed to defeat the defectors (the disqualified MLAs) and said people would teach them a lesson.
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Fascism will not be allowed to enter through the back door of vote rigging: CM Siddaramaiah
New Delhi: Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Sunday asserted that fascism would not be allowed to enter India “through the back door of vote rigging” and called upon citizens to collectively defend the country’s democratic foundations.
Speaking after participating in an anti–vote rigging protest organised in New Delhi, Siddaramaiah said the gathering was not merely a political demonstration but a stand to protect Indian democracy. “We have come to the heart of our republic not as Congress workers or voters, but as protectors of Indian democracy,” he said.
Emphasising the importance of the right to vote, Siddaramaiah said it was the most sacred right guaranteed by the Constitution and the very foundation of democracy.
“Through voting, a farmer shapes the future of his children, a worker safeguards his dignity, a youth realises dreams, and a nation expresses its collective will,” he said.
He accused the BJP-led Union government of attempting to undermine this right through what he termed systematic vote rigging, including the alleged misuse of the special revision of electoral rolls. “This power is being stolen repeatedly,” he alleged.
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Warning against authoritarian tendencies, Siddaramaiah said history had shown that dictatorship does not begin with violence but with the misuse of institutions and manipulation of democratic systems.
“Across the world, authoritarian regimes pretend to protect democracy while quietly subverting it. This is what the BJP is doing today,” he charged.
He alleged that the ruling party was controlling institutions, intimidating electoral machinery, distorting voter lists, suppressing voter turnout in opposition strongholds, and misusing money and power. “This is not mere maladministration. Vote rigging is an attack on the very idea of India,” he said.
Siddaramaiah further claimed that governments formed through “stolen votes” could not be considered democratic.
“Such regimes survive through fear, fraud and distortion of the people’s mandate,” he said, adding that vote rigging posed the biggest threat to the republic since Independence.
Praising Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi, Siddaramaiah said he had shown exceptional courage in exposing alleged irregularities in voter lists, booth-level manipulation and “systematic, organised vote rigging” across several states, including Karnataka, Haryana and Bihar.
Referring to Karnataka, Siddaramaiah cited Mahadevpura and Aland constituencies as examples highlighted by Gandhi. In Mahadevpura, he said, thousands of allegedly fake and fraudulent voter entries and discrepancies in electoral rolls pointed to a narrow BJP victory. In Aland, he said, attempts were made to remove the names of legitimate voters ahead of the 2023 Assembly elections.
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He noted that a Special Investigation Team (SIT) had recently filed a chargesheet accusing seven persons, including a former BJP MLA and his son, of attempting to delete the names of around 6,000 voters in Aland.
“This is a significant legal step in the fight against vote rigging,” he said.
Siddaramaiah concluded by stating that the fight against vote rigging was rooted in constitutional morality, Ambedkarite thought and the core principle of democracy. “Sovereignty belongs to the people, not to any party, regime or those who seek to steal elections,” he said.
