Karnataka: Congress MLA’s election challenged for concealing wealth, HC sends notice
Fatima did not disclose her account details at the SBI Station Branch; she was accused of not revealing her one-third ownership of a house and another property
The Karnataka High Court has issued notice to Congress MLA Kaneez Fatima in a case challenging her election on grounds that she gave false information about her wealth in the election affidavit.
Fatima was elected from the Gulbarga Uttar Constituency in May this year.
Justice CM Poonacha, who heard the petition on Friday, issued the notice and adjourned the hearing by four weeks, allowing the respondent to file her objections.
Petitioner AS Sharanabasappa had contested from the same seat on a JD(U) ticket and lost.
"Due to improper acceptance of the nomination of Respondent No.1 (Fatima) the result of the election in so far as it concerns respondent No.1 has been materially affected, since the Respondent No.1 intentionally concealed and failed to disclose material facts regarding assets and liabilities," the petition alleged.
The petition claimed that Fatima did not disclose her bank account details maintained by the SBI Station Branch.
Property details
She was also accused of not revealing her one-third ownership of a house and another property in Bengaluru which, as per 2018, was valued at Rs.9.21 crore but was shown to be worth only 9.3 crore.
The petition said Fatima had claimed immovable property valued at Rs.14.5 crore in 2018 but after five years its value stood at only Rs.14.64 crore, "which is also not acceptable".
Among other things, the petition alleged that the E-stamp paper in which the affidavit is filed by Fatima does not mention the name of the second party, and therefore it was illegal.
(With agency inputs)