Daijiworld Media Network - Bengaluru (SP)

Bengaluru, Apr 14: As per the information furnished by the Election Commission, JD(S) is ahead of other two parties as far use of helicopters in Karnataka is concerned for electoral campaigning. It may be recalled that recently, state chief minister, H D Kumaraswamy, had blamed the central government of purposefully creating artificial scarcity of helicopters as his party's demand for helicopters was not being met.

Chief electoral officer of Karnataka, Sanjiv Kumar, addressing a press conference here on Saturday April 13, revealed that a total of 49 proposals were received from all the parties in the state for election and that out of them, 40 have been approved so far.

JD(S) has obtained permission to use 16 helicopters, BJP 13, and Congress has obtained permission to use six helicopters. He stated that a total of 6,900 applications were received from various political parties and independents relating to election campaigns for holding public meetings, opening of election offices, vehicle licences, street-side meetings, use of microphones, road shows, processions, and other issues. As far as these applications are concerned, BJP stands first with 2,719 applications, followed by 1,893 of the Congress and 800 from the JD(S), he revealed.