When chicken came before the egg: Voters throw ‘gifts’ back at BJP leader’s doorstep

Election Commission sources said they had not received any complaint but would look into the matter. District leaders of both the BJP and Congress were not available for comment.

A villager said “BJP workers” had come with the chicken and saris to the Scheduled Caste-dominated Ganjigere village, as an “allurement” to vote for the party, and that when people refused to take the same, left it at their doorsteps.

Claiming they decided on their own to return the same, the villager who did not want to be named said: “We do not want them (leaders) to lure us with all this. We will vote for whoever we want.”

Another villager admitted that some of them did accept the “gifts”, but changed their minds after a local Congress leader came to them on Wednesday morning and questioned them.

Lokesh G J, an advocate from Ganjigere village, told The Indian Express that the villagers wanted to show that they would not vote for the BJP. “Around 2 am, supporters of (BJP candidate) Narayana Gowda came to the village and tried to lure voters with chicken, money and saris. The villagers refused to take anything. Then, between 3 am and 4 am, Gowda’s supporters kept these items outside houses. In anger, the villagers threw the ‘gifts’ at a local BJP leader’s house while some of them dumped them into the river… After that, everyone voted as per their wish and it was all peaceful.”

Besides SCs, Ganjigere has a substantial Kuruba population, who share community affiliation with senior Congress leader and chief minister contender Siddaramaiah.

While K R Pet used to be a stronghold of the Congress, lately it has moved towards the JD(S), which has its stronghold in the region. In 2013 and 2018, the seat was won by the JD(S)’s K C Narayana Gowda. But Gowda was one of the 17 Congress and JD(S) MLAs who resigned and moved to the BJP in 2019, helping it form the government.

In the 2019 by-election held to fill K R Pet seat vacated by Gowda, he had won again, this time as a BJP candidate, defeating the JD(S)’s B L Devaraj. It was the BJP’s first win from K R Pet.

Before the elections, there was a lot of buzz about Gowda trying to switch to the Congress. Yediyurappa is said to have convinced him to stay.

The Congress has fielded B L Devaraja (the 2019 bypoll JD-S candidate) while the JD(S) has fielded H T Manju from K R Pet. On Wednesday, the seat saw heavy polling, with 74.30% voting by 5 pm.