Channapatna bypolls: Kumaraswamy accuses Congress of distributing ‘gift coupons’

CHANNAPATNA: Union Minister H D Kumaraswamy on Wednesday accused the Congress party of attempting to manipulate voters by distributing gift coupons in Channapatna where bypolls will be held on November 13.

Speaking during his campaign in various villages of Channapatna, Kumaraswamy claimed that during the last Assembly election, Congress allegedly distributed gift coupons worth Rs 3,000 and Rs 5,000 in constituencies like Ramanagara and Magadi.

“Voters were reportedly encouraged to redeem these coupons at Bengaluru’s Lulu Mall, with promises that they could buy items of their choice”, he said. “When voters went to redeem their coupons, they found them to be worthless”, Kumaraswamy said, adding that this act was a “coupon scam”.

The Union Minister claimed that Congress is now trying to repeat this strategy in the Channapatna by-election. Kumaraswamy urged voters not to be misled by such deceptive tactics, emphasizing the importance of resisting fraudulent practices by Congress.

Kumaraswamy’s son Nikhil Kumaraswamy is in the electoral fray from the Channapatna seat against Congress candidate C P Yogeshwar. Earlier, exuding confidence in his son’s victory, Kumaraswamy had said that people of the region will bless him with victory in the elections.

#WATCH | Channapatna, Karnataka | Union Minister HD Kumaraswamy says, “Particularly Channapatna is the stronghold of the NDA. Here there is no problem. Our NDA candidate is going to win comfortably. There is no doubt at all…This time people of Channapatna will bless him (Nikhil… pic.twitter.com/A0CVrsclXs

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“Particularly, Channapatna is the stronghold of the NDA. Here, there is no problem. Our NDA candidate is going to win comfortably. There is no doubt at all…This time people of Channapatna will bless him (Nikhil Kumaraswamy)”, he said.

Kumaraswamy had defeated Yogeshwar in the 2018 and 2023 Assembly polls from the seat. The seat fell vacant after Kumaraswamy won from the Mandya parliamentary segment in the last Lok Sabha polls.

Voting for the first phase, covering 47 Assembly constituencies and the Wayanad parliamentary seat in Kerala will take place on November 13. The second phase will occur on November 20 for the Kedarnath Assembly constituency in Uttarakhand and the Nanded parliamentary seat in Maharashtra. The counting of votes will take place on November 23. (ANI)