BENGALURU: The Karnataka Legislative Assembly on Saturday issued a notification disqualifying Congress MLA Vinay Kulkarni following his conviction in the murder case of BJP leader Yogesh Gowda. Kulkarni is currently in prison, serving life imprisonment in the case.
“Consequent upon conviction of Vinay Kulkarni, MLA representing the Dharwad constituency, by the LXXXI Addl. City Civil & Sessions Judge, Bengaluru City (CCH-82), he stands disqualified from the membership of Karnataka Legislative Assembly from the date of conviction, April.15, 2026 in terms of the provisions of article 191(1)(e) of the Constitution of India read with Section 8 of the Representation of the People’s Act, 1951 and such disqualification shall continue for a further period of six years since his release, unless the conviction is stayed by a competent Court,” read the notification issued by Karnataka Assembly secretary MK Vishalakshi.
Hence, on seat has fallen vacant in the Karnataka Legislative Assembly, the notification added.
This has come as a big setback for the Congress leader as he cannot contest any elections for six years after serving the life sentence. Unless he gets the stay from the higher court, he remains disqualified and the Election Commission of India will notify bypolls within six months from the date of his conviction.
Judge Santhosh Gajanan Bhat had sentenced Kulkarni and 16 others in the 2016 murder case of the BJP leader Yogesh Gowda and imposed a fine of Rs 30,000 each. Yogesh Gowda, then a BJP zilla panchayat member, was hacked to death at the gym he was running in Dharwad on June 15, 2016.
The jurisdictional police handled the case and had dropped the name of Kulkarni, the then district in- charge minister, in the chargesheet. The BJP had fought against the state government as the investigation was not fair in the case and eventually got it transferred to the CBI in 2019 when BS Yediyurappa was the CM.
The CBI had arrested Kulkarni on November 5, 2020, naming him as the key conspirator in the murder.