Accordingly Chief Minister HD Kumaraswamy accused the Election Commission and the Income Tax Department of harassing him and his family. Kumaraswamy said “The Election Commission and Income Tax Department are literally harassing me and my family. Let the EC officials perform their duties, but don’t harass us over mere suspicion". Meanwhile he claimed that his car was searched at least 13 to 14 times in the past two days and also alleged that his car was checked twice within a distance of 60 kilometers on Thursday.
When speaking to the media after JD (S) candidate Anand Asnotikar filed his nomination papers for the Uttara Kannada constituency, Kumaraswamy said, “Our car was searched twice between Gokarna and Karwar a distance of 60km. His son and JD(S) candidate Nikhil were also around during the search and the Election Commission is pressuring the police to search our vehicles.”
Reportedly the Chief Minister also claimed that a record number of officials have been transferred since the election notification was issued. He said “Never in the history of Karnataka were so many officials transferred during any election". Moreover he also stated that he had lost grip over the administration due to BJP’s attempts to destabilize his government.
