The Karnataka High Court has recently announced to conduct a hearing on July 28 for a petition challenging Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s election to the Assembly from the Varuna constituency.
The petition alleges that Siddaramaiah breached the provisions of the Constitution and the rules and guidelines under The Representation of the People Act.
It claims that certain “guarantees” were offered and promised by the candidate and the Indian National Congress party, with Siddaramaiah’s consent.
These guarantees were presented as gratification to the electorate of the Varuna Constituency, aiming to directly induce the voters to cast their ballots for the Congress party candidate (Siddaramaiah). The consideration for this gratification was the voters’ support in favor of Siddaramaiah.
KM Shankara, a private citizen from the constituency, filed the Election petition. It was brought before the single-judge bench of Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav. The petition accuses Siddaramaiah of engaging in corrupt practices during the recently concluded Assembly Elections.
Senior advocate Pramila Nesargi, representing the petitioner, argued in court that all candidates seeking votes in the name of these guarantees were equally guilty of violating the model code of conduct.
However, Siddaramaiah has been singled out as a respondent as an example.
The petition stated that, “All the persons’ names which find a place in the manifesto are all jointly and severally responsible for the corrupt practice of 123(1) and 123(2) of the RP Act.”
The High Court adjourned the hearing and directed the petitioner to address office objections raised to the petition before the next court session.
