Karnataka HC issues notice to Siddaramaiah on petition seeking his disqualification

The Karnataka high court issued notice to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday (July 28) on a petition that sought his disqualification from Varuna assembly constituency for alleged malpractices in the recently concluded Karnataka assembly elections.

The notice is returnable by September 1, Justice Sunil Dutt Yadav ordered and adjourned the hearing.

The petition, which was filed by a voter KM Shankara from the Varuna constituency, said the chief minister needed to be disqualified for luring voters with freebies and distributing Congress Guarantee Cards during the state assembly elections.

The guarantee cards, promising five projects to be implemented if the Congress comes to power, was signed by CM Siddaramaiah and deputy CM DK Shivakumar and were distributed across the state before the election to attract the voters, it said.

The petition ‘blames’ the election manifesto of the Congress party, which promised five guarantees and termed them as corrupt practices amounting to bribery and also undue influence under Section 123(2) of The Representation of the People Act.

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The petition alleged that Siddaramaiah had breached the provisions of the Constitution and the rules and guidelines under the Representation of People Act.

The petition also claimed that “the said guarantees are in the nature of offer and promises made by the candidate and by the Indian National Congress party. This was done with the consent of the respondent (Siddaramaiah). They are in the form of gratification to the electorate of Varuna constituency and with the object of directly inducing the electorate to vote for the Congress party candidate namely the respondent.”

“The consideration was the vote in favour of the Respondent as a gratification with the motive and reward,” the petition further said.

(With input from agencies)