RS polls: 2 BJP leaders arrested for bribing Congress MLAs
What's the story
The Karnataka Police have arrested two Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leaders for allegedly attempting to bribe eight Congress MLAs from Odisha. The accused, Birendra Prasad and Byatarayanapura Suresh, were arrested on the outskirts of Bengaluru. They are accused of offering ₹5 crore each to the MLAs in exchange for cross-voting in the Rajya Sabha elections being held on Monday, March 16, 2026. Polling for the elections to 37 Rajya Sabha seats is currently being held across seven states.
Legal proceedings
BJP leaders booked under multiple sections
The two arrested BJP leaders have been booked under Sections 173 (bribery in elections) and 352 (deliberate insults intended to provoke a breach of peace or another offense) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita. They were also charged under Section 7 (demanding or accepting illegal gratification, directly or indirectly, for doing or forbearing any official act) of the Prevention of Corruption Act.
Complaint details
Arrests made after Congress lodged complaint
The arrests were made after Ashok Kumar Das, Deputy Leader of the Congress Legislative Party in Odisha, lodged a complaint about an alleged BJP plan to kidnap their legislators to influence elections. The accused had reportedly entered the Wonder La resort in Bengaluru and tried to bribe eight first-time MLAs from Odisha Congress who were staying there.
Security measures
Odisha Congress MLAs were moved to Bengaluru as precautionary measure
The eight first-time Odisha Congress MLAs, namely, Rajan Ekka, Ashok Das, Appala Kumar Swamy, Mangu Killo, Pavitra Sauntha, Nilamadhav Hikka, Prafulla Pradhan, and Sathyajit Gomongo, were moved to a resort in Bengaluru as a precautionary measure against poaching attempts. The move was made after internal discussions within the party leadership to keep them away from rival parties' influence.
Arrangements
Police investigating how accused entered resort, approached legislators
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who is overseeing the arrangements for these MLAs' stay, said it was done as a precautionary measure. He had alleged that rival parties were making "big offers" to poach Congress MLAs before the Rajya Sabha polls. The police are now investigating how the accused entered the resort and approached legislators.