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Journalism of Courage
A helicopter being used by Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee president Mallikarjun Kharge was impounded by the police in Gulbarga for violation of election norms on Saturday morning.
Local police filed a case against Escorts India Ltd after the helicopter owned by it and ferrying Kharge landed at a field belonging to the District Armed Reserve (DAR) of the Karnataka Police.
Neither Kharge nor the helicopter pilots had obtained written permission from the Election Commission for landing on property belonging to the state Government in violation of election rules.
Gulbarga police said they had alerted the Election Commission regarding the seizure.
Congress leader Kapil Sibal who spoke to the media in Bangalore said there had been a misunderstanding since verbal permission had been obtained for Kharge from the Election Commission to land at the DAR grounds.
The helicopter was forced to land at the DAR ground. It was originally scheduled to land at a helipad in Gulbarga, Congress officials said.
Kharge reportedly hired the helicopter to visit his former Assembly constituency Gurumitkal from where he had been elected eight times. The Congress president has been given a ticket to contest from the Chitapur reserved constituency this time after the Gurmitkal constituency was de-reserved.
