The Election Commission (EC) issued a notice to Congress Kagwad MLA Raju Kage, also known as Bharamgouda Alagouda Kage, on Thursday for allegedly threatening voters with power cuts if the party does not win in Karnataka’s Belagavi district.

The EC’s notice came after receiving complaints of Kage threatening voters in Madabhavi village with a “power cut” if they did not vote for the Congress party by a significant margin during the Lok Sabha campaign.

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In a purported video of his campaign speech addressed on April 30 in Madabhavi, Belagavi, Kage can be heard saying, “If I don’t get more votes this time, I will disconnect your electricity.” The remarks went viral on social media platforms.

The Assistant Returning Officer of the Kagavad Vidhan Sabha Constituency issued a notice, suggesting a possible breach of the Election Code of Conduct. Kage has been granted a 24-hour window to address the notice. Notably, the Kagwad MLA quit the BJP and joined the Congress before the state assembly elections.

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The controversial remarks made by Kage have drawn sharp criticism from BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawala, who expressed his outrage on social media, questioning the values of the Congress party.

“Is the Congress party a ‘Mohabbat Ki Dukan’ (shop of love), or a ‘Dhamki ki Bhaijaan’ (brotherhood of threats and hate)?”Poonawala cited other instances where Congress leaders made threatening remarks in a post on X.

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“A Karnataka Congress MLA threatens voters, saying that if they don’t vote for him, he will cut off their electricity. A few days ago, DK ShivKumar went into society threatening that if they don’t vote for his brother, their water supply and other things would be cut off. Before this, another Karnataka minister threatened a youth, saying that if you vote for Modi, you’ll be hit with stones and beaten up. Many Congress leaders speak in the language of threats. They don’t consider the people as divine or god-like; they see them as their servants, which is why they often have a threatening or blackmailing attitude,” Poonawala added in the post.

The Lok Sabha elections for Karnataka’s 28 Lok Sabha seats are being conducted in two phases. Voting for 14 seats concluded on April 26, while the remaining 14 seats will undergo polling on May 7. Vote counting is scheduled for June 4.

In 2019, BJP nearly swept the state by winning 25 out of 28 seats, while Congress and JD-S, who were in a coalition government in the state, could only secure one seat each. This time, BJP and JD-S are in coalition, with the former contesting on 25 seats and the latter on three seats.