The High Court of Karnataka told the State Government to file its objection before November 29 on a writ petition filed by Congress corporators of Kalaburagi Mahanagara Palike questioning the legality of inclusion of seven Members of Legislative Council of the BJP in the electoral rolls of Gulbarga South Assembly constituency. The Kalaburagi bench of the High Court also directed authorities to serve notices in-person to all seven MLCs seeking their responses.
The seven BJP MLCs are Laxman Savadi, Tulasi Muniraju Gowda, Bharati Shetty, Saibanna Talwar, Lehar Singh, Pratap Naik and Raghunath Malkapure. They had applied online to the Election Commission of India seeking inclusion of their names in the electoral rolls of Gulbarga South Assembly constituency. They had provided rent agreements as proof of residence.
The Congress had alleged that inclusion of the MLCs in the Kalaburagi city electoral rolls was intended to make them eligible to vote in elections for the posts of Mayor and Deputy Mayor of Kalaburagi Mahanagara Palike where the BJP does not have a majority. Congress members Varsha Jane and Tripti Lakhe had approached the High Court questioning the legality of the move.
A single-judge bench of Justice M.I. Arun directed the State Government’s pleader to submit his objections and asked court authorities to serve notices to the MLCs in person. Senior advocate A.S. Ponnanna represented the petitioner through video conferencing.
The next hearing is scheduled for November 29.
.png?w=600)
