The Hindu : Karnataka News : Election of Kolar MP challenged

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 23, 2004

Karnataka

Karnataka

Election of Kolar MP challenged

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE, JULY 22. Five election petitions, including one challenging the election of a Member of Parliament (MP), and four others relating to the Assembly elections, came up before the Karnataka High Court on Thursday.

In the first case, D.S. Veeraiah (Bharatiya Janata Party) challenged the election of K.H. Muniyappa from the Kolar Lok Sabha constituency.

In his petition, Mr. Veeraiah said the election was rigged and there were incidents of booth capturing. He claimed to have evidence of some polling officers stamping the ballots after 5 p.m. He said Mr. Muniyappa had secured 3,85,582 votes and he 3,73,947. The difference was 11,635.

He urged the court to set aside the election of Mr. Muniyappa and declare him as elected. Justice N.K. Patil ordered issue of notice and summons to the respondents. The case was posted to August 19.

Ex-MLA's plea

In another petition, the former MLA and BJP leader, K.N. Subba Reddy, challenged the election of K. Chandrashekar from the Basavanagudi Assembly constituency. The petitioner contended that Mr. Chandrashekar had stored large quantities of liquor at several places in Basavanagudi. Justice H.L. Dattu ordered issue of notices and issued summons to the respondents.

`Set aside election'

Sarvabhouma S. Bagali challenged the election of Ravi Kant Patil from the Indi Assembly constituency. The petitioner said Patil had been convicted by a Sholapur court of offences under Sec. 376 IPC and sentenced to seven years of imprisonment. On March 26, 2004, Mr. Patil obtained a stay from the Bombay High Court against the Sholapur court order.

The petitioner said Mr. Patil was not an MLA on the day of nominations. He said once a person was convicted, the presumption of innocence ended. The High Court had only stayed the sentence and not the conviction, he said. He urged the court to set aside Mr. Patil's election.

Justice Abdul Nazir ordered issue of summons and notice. The case was posted to August 19.

Notices ordered

Justice K.L. Manjunath ordered issue of notice to the respondents on an election petition by Subhan Khan, Editor of Vajravani of Davangere. The petitioner challenged the election of Shamanur Shivashankarappa (Congress) from the Davangere Assembly constituency. He said his nomination papers were rejected not in accordance with the law. He urged the court to declare the election null and void.

Summons

Justice S.R. Bannurmath ordered issue of summons to R. Dhruvanarayana and others on a petition by A.R. Krishnamurthy.

The petitioner said Dhruvanarayana (Congress) was declared elected from the Santhemarenahalli (SC) Assembly constituency.

He said Mr. Dhruvanarayana polled 40,752 votes while he got 40,751. He said he had lost by one vote.

He claimed that an assistant returning officer had opened the boxes containing the postal ballots without ensuring the presence of the election agents and the returning officer.

The case was posted to August 19.

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