Janata Dal (S) leader H.D. Kumaraswamy on Wednesday said his party was considering lodging a complaint with the Election Commission against Chief Minister Siddaramaiah for allegedly failing to disclose the pending cases against him while filing an affidavit for the 2008 Assembly polls.
He told presspersons that the public prosecutor in a Mysuru court, while opposing bail to Mr. Siddaramaiah’s aide K. Mari Gowda, listed 11 cases that had been booked by the Jayapura and Mysuru South police stations against Mr. Gowda in 2007 to project him as a “habitual offender”.
Incidentally, the name of Mr. Siddaramaiah, who was then an MLA representing the Chamundeshwari Assembly segment, also figured in 10 of these cases. The cases pertained to damaging buses by pelting stones and torching them during protests held against inaugurating a government hospital in Jayapura by keeping the local MLA, Mr. Siddaramaiah, out of the official programme. Referring to Superintendent of Mysuru district police Abhinav Khare’s clarification that all cases were either withdrawn or a ‘C’ report had been filed in 2009, Mr. Kumaraswamy sought to know why Mr. Siddaramaiah failed to disclose these cases in the affidavit filed when he contested the 2008 Assembly polls. He said the party will discuss the issue with legal experts before considering a move to lodge a complaint with the Election Commission for suppression of facts by Mr. Siddaramaiah under the Representation of People’s Act.
Siddaramaiah failed to disclose pending police cases against him while filing affidavit for the 2008 Assembly polls
H.D. Kumaraswamy,JD(S) leader
