DHARWAD: Dharwad MLA Vinay Kulkarni got a brief respite on Tuesday as the Karnataka High Court allowed him to enter Dharwad district for two hours to cast his vote in Phase 3 of the Lok Sabha elections. Dharwad went to the polls on Tuesday.
The MLA, accompanied by his family, was given a rousing welcome by Congress workers near the polling booth in Saptapur. Vinay entered the district after four years, as the Supreme Court has barred his entry into Dharwad for his alleged involvement in the killing of ZP member Yogishgouda Goudar in June 2016.
As the case was transferred to the CBI, he was arrested in November 2020. His efforts to get bail in the lower courts and the HC did not fructify. Kulkarni, however, got respite from the Supreme Court, which gave him conditional bail in August 2021, directing him not to enter Dharwad district. Kulkarni contested the 2023 Assembly polls without entering his constituency. He, however, was not permitted to vote then. His request to vote in the mayoral polls was also not refused by the court.
After voting, Kulkarni said that he was happy to be in the district for at least two hours. “Congress will win more than 20 seats in the state. The Lingayat leaders have blessed us. I thank the court for allowing me to vote,” he said.