Karnataka Elections: Congress urges EC to disqualify BJP candidate over bribery

Polling officials collect EVMs and other election material on the eve of Karnataka Assembly elections in Chikmagalur. Pic/PTI

The Congress petitioned the Election Commission demanding that BJP candidate B Sriramulu be disqualified from contesting the Karnataka assembly election over a 2010 'sting' video allegedly showing him trying to bribe a former chief justice of India's relative.

Ahead of polling on Saturday, the party also sought a ban on airing of content by two television channels allegedly defaming the Congress. A delegation of senior Congress leaders, including Kapil Sibal, Mukul Wasnik and Randeep Surjewala, met EC officials and presented a memorandum, which also demanded that the chief electoral officer in Karnataka be directed to lift the ban on the airing of the 'sting' video by local television channels. On Thursday, the Congress released the video, dating back to 2010, allegedly showing Sriramulu and G Janardhana Reddy negotiating a bribe to a relative of a former CJI to influence a verdict in a mining case.