Bengaluru: Paramilitary forces arrive in city ahead of byelection

Bengaluru: Central paramilitary forces arrived in the city on Friday to be deployed for the bypolls to Rajarajeshwari Nagar Assembly constituency, a top police official said. "The Central paramilitary forces have arrived in the city. One is from Bengaluru, another being grouped from Tamil Nadu, Telangana and Mysuru," Bengaluru Deputy Commissioner of Police (West division) Sanjeev M Patil said. He said the Central Industrial Security Force contingent is also being deployed in the west division.

The battle in the RR Nagar constituency, where bypolls will be held on November 3, has intensified with candidates and political parties trading allegations of poll code violations. The BJP has fielded Munirathna, a Congress turncoat, while H Kusuma and V Krishnamurthy are the Congress and the JD(S) candidates respectively. Kusuma is the wife of former IAS officer late D K Ravi whose 'suicide' had kicked up a storm in the state. She is also the daughter of a JD(S) leader Hanumantharayappa, who unsuccessfully contested the 2008 Assembly elections from RR Nagar. At present, the fight appears to be mainly between the BJP and the Congress who are leaving no stone unturned to win the seat.

The election has become a prestige issue for Munirathna and Congress state president D K Shivakumar, as his brother D K Suresh represents the Bengaluru Rural constituency in the Lok Sabha under which the RR Nagar assembly segment falls. Eight days ago, a case of poll code violation was registered against Congress candidate Kusuma and the escort staff of former chief minister Siddaramaiah for not abiding by the directions of the code of conduct at the office of the returning officer for Rajarajeshwari Nagar constituency.

Two days ago, the Congress workers staged a demonstration at the Nandini Layout police station alleging that the BJP activists assaulted a party worker. On Thursday, Munirathna had stated that the situation in RR Nagar has become 'explosive' as more than 4,000 outsiders have arrived in the constituency and were allegedly conducting a door-to-door survey. "They are collecting all the information. I appeal to people not to share personal information with anyone," Munirathna told reporters on Thursday.