Nalin Kumar Kateel asked to show expense for sharing dais with Narendra Modi

 

Mangalore, 11 Apr 2014 (TOI): A share of expense incurred on BJP prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi’s star campaign programme held in neighbouring state of Kerala will be added to party’s Dakshina Kannada candidate Nalin Kumar Kateel’s account too. Reason is that Kateel had shared the dais at Kasargod during Modi’s election campaign on April 8.

 

Deputy commissioner and district electoral officer AB Ibrahim said that a candidate will have to show the expense in the statement even if he shares the dais of an election campaign programme, seek vote there or pose with the star campaigner for photograph. "We have sought information from Kasargod district collector about Modi’s campaign programme expense and number of candidates present on the dais including Kateel. The total expenditure will be shared among candidates present on the dais at the programme and one share will be added to Kateel’s expenditure," he added.

 

Meanwhile, National Institute of Technology Karnataka (NITK) director Swapan Bhattacharya and Kateel, who were served show cause notice by the Election Commission in connection with the campaign on campus, have given their reply on Thursday . BJP national general secretary HN Ananth Kumar and Kateel had allegedly canvassed for votes on the NITK campus on April 1. It was also alleged that Ananth Kumar has promised the students of reducing fuel prices if BJP wins.

 

NITK registrar, who has replied the show cause notice on behalf of Bhattacharya, informed the Election Commission that the campaign on their campus was not held with the Institute’s permission. "No one has sought permission to hold campaign in NITK campus and the institute also has not given permission for any such programmes. Since it is a large campus, the institute security wing could not keep track on the incident," the registrar stated in the reply. Kateel too has denied the allegations in his reply to the commission.