Bengaluru, May 11: Congress leader and senior advocate Kapil Sibal on Friday lashed out at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and said that the BJP is spreading hatred among voters in Karnataka. He said BJP is putting promos in Republic TV’s co-founder and BJP’s Rajya Sabha MP, Rajeev Chandrasekhar's channel. Sibal, after his meeting with the Election Commission, said election, where Sriram Malu is contesting, should be countermanded and he should be disqualified from contesting elections.

In his statement, Sibal said, “Met EC & made four demands that the video in which BJP's Sriram Malu & son in law of ex CJI, that talks about bribes that were given, basis on the video an FIR should be registered against all those who are participating in it”. Sibal further said that the ban on showing that video in Karnataka must be lifted.

Elections in the Karnataka are scheduled for May 12. The Karnataka Assembly has 225 members including one nominated. The results of the polls will be declared on May 15. Leaders of Congress and the BJP are leaving no stone unturned to woo voters in the poll-bound state. The BJP has come under attack from the Congress over fielding the Reddy brothers -- G Somashekhara Reddy (Ballari) and G Karunakara Reddy (Harappanahalli) and their associates in the polls.

Earlier this week, the Congress had slammed Chandrasekhar after a video of campaigning for the BJP candidate went viral. Karnataka chief minister Siddaramaiah termed Republic TV’s co-owner a ‘simple campaigner for the mining mafia.’ Siddaramaiah took to Twitter and said, “Money may give him a megaphone to praise the rulers & bark at the opposition. But everyone knows he has no political morality or culture. Is a hypocrite whose lectures have become tiresome? Ultimately he is a simple campaigner for the mining mafia.”

Earlier this week, The Congress MPs, for whom Sibal appeared before the Supreme Court withdrew their plea in the apex court challenging rejection of the impeachment notice against Misra by Rajya Sabha Chairman M Venkaiah Naidu. The Congress had questioned the setting up of a five-judge bench to hear a petition challenging rejection of the impeachment notice against Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and dismissed allegations that the plea, filed by two party MPs, was "political".  The party was for protecting "dignity and independence" of the courts, senior Congress leader and advocate Kapil Sibal said while pitching for transparency in the judicial process.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 11, 2018 12:59 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).