Priyank: BJP bribed voters with app payments

NT Correspondent

Kalaburagi: Kalaburagi District InCharge Minister Priyank Kharge on Tuesday alleged that the BJP made digital payments to electors as bribes so as to induce them to vote for the saffron party.

Kharge, who is also the Minister for Rural Development and Panchayat Raj (RDPR) said that Congress would approach the Election Commission (EC) with “proof ” which included a handwritten note with names of voters with their phone numbers blurred and screenshot of payments made in the app, that he posted on microblogging site X (previously Twitter).

He added that the BJP had made the digital payments on the PhonePe app in Chittapur Assembly constituency represented by him and Sedam segment where Minister Sharanprakash Patil is the MLA.

Both seats fall under Kalaburagi, where Congress has fielded Dr Radhakrishna Doddamani, brotherin-law to Priyank and son-in-law to father and Congress national president Mallikarjun Kharge.

Priyank has been camping in Kalaburagi to get Doddamani elected against BJP MP Umesh Jadhav who had secured a shock win against Mallikarjun Kharge back in 2019.

“@ BJP4Karnataka are indeed taking PM @narendramodi ’s digital payment mission to the next level. BJP is bribing voters directly using PhonePe in Sedam and Chittapur constituencies. We are filing a complaint with more evidence of such transactions to the Election Commission,” Priyank said.