EC defers voting in Rajarajeshwari Nagar till May 28

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Commercial establishments have come up with unique ways to leverage the ongoing election fever to get some publicity either for free or at a low cost — and also be seen as public do-gooders at the same time.

So one marketing agency has come up with a plan where 10 bikes will be given to people who vote.

All voters need to do is send a photograph of their inked hand to a particular Whatsapp number and the agency says ten random phone numbers will be chosen as the winners.

Others have come up with even more unique schemes.

A Bengaluru eatery is offering a masala dosa free for first-time voters (voter ID necessary for the dosa).

Another quick service restaurant says it will offer coffee free to all voters (inked fingers needed). Some other establishments are offering discounts to those who have voted. BENGALURU: The Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) traded charges of malpractice on Friday after the Election Commission deferred polling in Bengaluru’s Rajarajeshwari Nagar constituency, where more than 9,000 voter ID cards were seized from an apartment, till May 28.

Terming it a “slap across the face of senior Congress leaders and chief minister Siddaramaiah”, state BJP spokesperson S Prakash said, “Will the Congress apologise now that EC has taken this decision? It stands exposed today thanks to the prompt action of the Election Commission.”

Congress spokesperson Priyanka Chaturvedi, however, said it was an unfortunate development.

“We had exposed that the flat was owned by a BJP worker, who had leased it out to her nephew. Besides, the raid was first conducted by the BJP. I hope the EC reconsiders its decision...”

The polling for the constituency has been shifted to May 28, with counting on May 31.

In its order, the EC has said: “The conduct of free and fair poll in Rajarajeshwari Nagar assembly constituency will not be possible if the ongoing electoral process is allowed to proceed and poll is taken on 12th May, 2018 as scheduled”.

“Commission further considers it imperative to defer the poll... so that the vitiating effect of the distribution of money and gift items to the electors of the constituency loses its intensity,” the order stated. Further, the EC ordered that the seized ID cards be returned to the voters.