Bengaluru, December 2: The State high court, has served notice to Former Karnataka chief minister and union minister Veerappa Moily, for reportedly spending excessively over the stipulated limit during the recent Lok Sabha election, and masking information on electoral expenditure from the election officer.
A single judge bench of the high court presided over by Justice B S Patil, also served notice on the central election commission, state chief electoral officer, and deputy commissioner of Chikkaballapur district. This was done in relation to a petition filed by B N Bachche Gowda, who had contested against Moily on BJP ticket and had lost with a small difference.
An utmost expenditure limit of Rs 70 lakhs has been fixed for Lok Sabha candidates from Karnataka state. Bachche Gowda sighted that as per the details provided by election monitoring officers, Moily had spent over Rs 73 lakhs after submission of his nomination papers. Gowda has accordingly sought directions nullifying Moily’s election.
In his complaint filed on July 7th– 2014, Gowda had complained to the central election commission, Karnataka chief electoral officer and deputy commissioner of Chikkaballapur district, who was the returning officer for the election, pointing out that Moily had furnished in the accounts submitted to the concerned that he had spent Rs 42.99 lakhs towards this election. He said as per details obtained by him through right to information act, the election officers have mentioned the total expenses of Moily at Rs 73.28 lakhs.
Gowda has sought to disqualify Moily, and take appropriate action against him for providing wrong information. He has filed a petition in the high court, since the concerned failed to take actions even after three months had elapsed. The case has been now taken for inquiry.
