Goa, Aug. 29 -- As the Congress intensifies its allegations of voter fraud against the BJP before Bihar elections, Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has stirred debate with a remark about his own past. On Friday, he recalled losing the 1991 Koppal Lok Sabha race due to "fraud."

Running as a JDS candidate, Siddaramaiah was beaten by Congress' Basavaraj Patil Anwari by around 11,000 votes. He later claimed officials wrongly discarded over 22,000 ballots and that Anwari's candidacy itself was illegal following a defection-related disqualification. The case went before the Karnataka High Court.

At a felicitation for lawyer Ravivarma Kumar in Bengaluru, Siddaramaiah said, "In 1991, I contested the election and was defeated by fraud. Then...