Income Tax and election officials in Ballari raided the residences and offices of BJP and Congress leaders in Ballari on Sunday. Raids were initiated at the residence of Raju, an associate of BJP MLA B Sriramulu, on Sunday morning.

Raids were also conducted at the residence of Yariswamy, who is the uncle of B Nagendra, a Congress leader from Ballari, and at the residence and office of Congress leader Suryanarayana Reddy. The latter’s company, Sri Raghavendra Enterprises which is involved in granite mining, was raided.

Suryanarayana, who was earlier with the JD(S), defected to the Congress around the time the Ballari mining scam involving mining baron Janardhana Reddy came to light.

“The raids initially began at the residence of Sriramulu’s associate, and then Congress leaders were also raided. Nothing has been found in any of the raids so far and we don’t think anything will be found either. The use of money in the elections is not as prominent in Ballari as in the past when Janardhana Reddy was involved in the elections,” claimed a BJP leader from Ballari.

In the run-up to the elections, the Congress has accused the Income Tax department and the Election Commission of targeting their party with raids. Previously, raids have been conducted on Congress and JD(S) functionaries in Hassan, Mandya and Bengaluru, while raids were also conducted on BJP functionaries in Uttara Kannada district.

Earlier, a hotel room in which Congress leader Anil Lad was staying in Ballari was raided on April 9. On the same day, hotel rooms of BJP supporters in Ballari were also raided.

Ballari goes to polls in the third phase of the Lok Sabha elections on April 23.