Today(on 18th April), Chief Minister Siddaramaiah defends his 2023 election win in Varuna, branding the challenging petition as a duplicate, urging the Karnataka High Court for procedural reassessment.
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BENGALURU: Today(on 18th April), Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has defended his victory in the 2023 election from the Varuna constituency, describing the petition contesting his win as a mere replication of similar ones, and thus, should be dismissed. He made this argument before the Karnataka High Court, underlining the necessity for a judicial reevaluation of the procedures related to electoral challenges.
During the proceedings before Justice Sunil Dutt Yadav, Siddaramaiah’s representation, led by Senior Advocate Ravivarma Kumar, highlighted a concerning trend in the judicial challenges against election outcomes.
Kumar pointed out-
“The most concerning aspect of this case is that recently, a bench of this Court rejected an election petition in B Lakshmidevi’s case due to a lack of cause of action in a very similar situation. To our surprise, we discovered that my election petition is identical to the one in that case… It’s like a cut and paste job, paragraph by paragraph! This makes it easy for me to argue that this should be considered as a binding precedent. However, I urge the Court to recognize the fact that there has been widespread copying of election petitions… I have identified at least three instances. The first occurred before the Kalburgi Bench. The petitions had the same allegations, not a single comma or full stop was changed.”
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The dispute arises from allegations put forth by the petitioner, who accuses the Indian National Congress (INC) of engaging in electoral bribery and corrupt activities. These allegations stem from promises outlined in the party’s manifesto for the 2023 State polls. This situation closely resembles the events that led to the dismissal of a similar challenge against MLA Rizwan Arshad from Shivajinagar earlier in the year.
Kumar strongly advocated for consequences against the petitioner, suggesting a judicial investigation into the “mass copying” phenomenon.
“Kindly request the records of these election petitions. I have managed to gather paragraphs. On this basis alone, it is evident that this is an abuse of the process. When an election petition is submitted without careful consideration, without reference to the candidate, or to my election – the petitioner should face serious repercussions… Wouldn’t it be considered an offense to prosecute someone for swearing a false affidavit?”
-he argued.
The call to action doesn’t end there; Kumar also urged the court to reflect on the broader issue at hand – the integrity of the electoral challenge process.
“Is it permissible to submit election petitions by simply copying from others? I must confess, we were unaware of this practice until the judgment was delivered in Lakshmidevi’s case. It was only then that we examined the pleadings, and to our surprise, we found evidence of widespread copying from other election petitions.”
– he stated.
Justice Yadav requested Kumar to submit the relevant election case records directly, rather than issuing formal court summons that might delay other proceedings.
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This approach was agreed upon by Kumar, setting the stage for a further hearing scheduled for next Wednesday.
