Supreme Court Temporarily Suspends Karnataka High Court’s Decision on MP Prajwal Revanna’s 2019 Election Outcome
The Supreme Court, in a recent turn of events, has provisionally stayed the Karnataka High Court’s judgment, which had annulled the election of Janata Dal (Secular) MP Prajwal Revanna from the Hassan Parliamentary constituency during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. The High Court had ruled against Revanna on the grounds that he had submitted a misleading election affidavit.
The Supreme Court’s bench, comprising Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra, remarked,
“We could not have a scenario where we perceive that the only punishment that can be delivered is keeping people at the undertrial stage irrespective of whether the prosecution has the ability to get the conviction ultimately.”
They further elucidated,
“This is a disturbing trend which I find, where people remain behind bars as undertrial, and the presumption is, whether they are able to get the conviction or not, this is what maybe the punishment or sentence is.”
While the stay is operative, the apex court clarified that Revanna will not be entitled to draw any allowances as a Member of Parliament. However, he has been granted permission to cast his vote in the Lok Sabha and in any committees where he is a member. Additionally, the court stated that Revanna
“shall be entitled to contest in the next parliamentary elections subject to any further directions.”
Prajwal Revanna, the only MP from Janata Dal (Secular) in the Lok Sabha, is also the grandson of former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda. The allegations against him encompassed several counts of corrupt practices. The High Court’s Justice K Natarajan had held that the allegations against Revanna included
“non-disclosure of material facts, wrong disclosure of property assets, evading taxes, proxy voting, and exorbitant expenditures crossing the limit prescribed by the Election Commission of India.”
The High Court also determined that his nomination paper had been
“wrongly accepted by the Returning Officer.”
Furthermore, the High Court had issued notices to Prajwal Revanna’s father, HD Revanna, and his brother, Suraj Revanna. They were asked to provide reasons why they shouldn’t be identified under Section 99(a)(ii) of the Representation of the People Act for engaging in corrupt practices to aid Prajwal Revanna’s election. Both HD Revanna and Suraj Revanna have challenged this notice in the Supreme Court.
In the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, Prajwal Revanna emerged victorious from Hassan with a total of 6,76,606 votes, while his opponent, A Manju, secured 5,35,282 votes.
