First politician to face EC action in this poll round, Union MoS Shobha Karandlaje known for stirring rows

Speaking about the Bengaluru blast, Karandlaje had said: “The law and order situation in the state (Karnataka, ruled by the Congress) has deteriorated. People from Tamil Nadu come and plant bombs.”

She went on to refer to a series of incidents, including crimes: “People from Delhi come and raise ‘Pakistan zindabad’ slogans (referring to alleged slogans raised during oath-taking by a Congress Rajya Sabha MP). People from Kerala come and pour acid (on people). Now, a person accused in a rape case — who should be in jail — gangs up and assaults (someone) for playing the Hanuman Chalisa.”

On Tuesday, Karandlaje attended a protest over the assault on a shopkeeper for allegedly “playing Hanuman Chalisa during azaan” along with BJP MPs Tejasvi Surya and P C Mohan.

The FIR filed against her was the first action ordered by the EC against a key political figure in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls.

The Madurai police has separately booked Karandlaje for “promoting enmity” between different groups, with her remarks drawing sharp criticism from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin and other DMK leaders.

When she was inducted into the Union Cabinet in July 2021, one of the first things Karandlaje did was to scrub her posts on Twitter, now X, several of which were on alleged cow slaughter and “love jihad” incidents.

In October 2017, ahead of the Assembly polls that were months away, Karandlaje had raised the killing of Paresh Mesta at Uttara Kannada district, calling it communal and claiming that he had been tortured before he was murdered. The statement had added to the communal tension in the region.

The CBI, which investigated the case, concluded in 2021 that Mesta had drowned. Karandlaje was booked for “tweeting false information to create unrest”; in 2023, the then state government withdrew the case.

In January 2020, the Kerala Police filed an FIR against Karandlaje after she claimed that several Hindu families in Malappuram district were being “denied water” for backing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA), which was contrary to the state LDF government’s position. Malappuram is a Muslim-majority region in Kerala.

At another time, following the death of an elephant in Malappuram after it ate a pineapple stuffed with crackers, Karandlaje had described the district as a “jihadi breeding ground”. She had also posted several controversial tweets during the dispute over entry of women of all ages to the Sabarimala temple in Kerala.

Karandlaje started her electoral stint as an MLC in 2004. Four years later, she contested the Assembly polls from Yeshwantpur and won. Ahead of the 2013 Assembly polls, she left the BJP along with several other followers of Yediyurappa, who at the time floated the Karnataka Janata Paksha (KJP) party.

After Yediyurappa dissolved the KJP to rejoin the BJP, Karandlaje was fielded from the Udupi-Chikmagalur Lok Sabha constituency in 2014, followed by 2019, and won both times.