A court in Karnataka's Gokak has issued summons to Chief Minister BS Yediyurappa in a case of alleged violation of the Model Code of Conduct (MCC) during campaigning last November ahead of a bypoll, an official said on Saturday.
Yediyurappa had sought votes from a community during an election campaign of Ramesh Jarkiholi on November 23 last year.
Jarkiholi had contested on a BJP ticket after he and 17 other MLAs from the Congress and the Janata Dal (Secular) defected, leading to the fall of the previous coalition government. He is now the Water Resources Minister in the year-old state BJP government since early February.
While campaigning for Jarkiholi, Yediyurappa in his speech had said that the votes of the Veerashaiva Lingayat community members will be consolidated and they will not disperse here and there, the court noted.
The Gokak town police station Investigating Officer filed the 'B' report in the court, appealing to dismiss the case on the ground that due to the mistake of facts and pressure of work and on the wrong assumption the FIR was lodged as the accused did not violate code of conduct.
However, the court rejected the B report and has summoned Yediyurappa on September 1.
"The court is convinced that there are enough materials in the 'B' final report to proceed against the accused and subject the accused to a trial for the offence," said the judge before issuing the summons.
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