BENGALURU: The Karnataka High Court on Monday set aside the election of Congress MLA SN Subbareddy from the Bagepalli Assembly constituency in Chikkaballapur district in 2023.
Partly allowing the election petition filed by C Muniraju, a defeated candidate from BJP, who had questioned the legality of Subbareddy’s election, Justice MGS Kamal delivered the verdict. But Justice Kamal stayed the verdict on the request of Subbareddy’s counsel to enable them to file an appeal. The copy of the judgment is yet to be available.
Muniraju filed the petition in 2023, seeking to quash Subbareddy’s election on the grounds of non-disclosure and false declaration in the election affidavit.
Subbareddy secured 82,128 votes, while Muniraju, who stood second, got 62,949 votes. Muniraju alleged in hit petition that Subbareddy indulged in corrupt practices that fall under Section 123(1) and (2) of the Representation of People’s Act.
Subba Reddy has won the Assembly elections thrice in a row from Bagepalli. His first victory was as an independent, while the two previous wins came as a Congress member. He was aiming for a ministerial berth in case of a reshuffle. Both Muniraju and Subbareddy were not available for comments.