18 Sep 2023 12:25 PM GMT
The Supreme Court on Monday, as an interim direction, stayed the judgement of the Karnataka High Court which set aside the election of Janata Dal (Secular) Prajwal Revanna as a Member of Parliament from Hassan Parliamentary constituency in 2019 Lok Sabha elections, for filing a false election affidavit.
The bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala, and Justice Manoj Misra added that Revanna shall not presently be permitted to draw any allowances as the Member of the Parliament. However, he was permitted to cast his vote on the floor of the house or in any other committees for which he was nominated as a member.
The Apex Court also added that Revanna shall be entitled to contest in the next parliamentary elections subject to any further directions.
It may be recalled that the Karnataka High Court had refused to stay the order disqualifying Prajwal Revanna as Member of Parliament, for filing a false election affidavit. A single bench of Justice K Natarajan had dismissed the application filed by Revanna seeking stay on the order dated September 1, for some time to prefer an appeal before the Supreme Court.
In its September 1 order, the High Court had allowed the election petitions filed by one A Manju and another, and declared the election of Prajwal R as null and void. The court had also issued notice to H.D.Revanna, Prajwal's father, for involvement in corrupt practices in helping Prajwal.
Revanna had contested the 2019 Lok Sabha elections from Hassan and was accused of giving false information to the Election Commission. Prajwal was declared the winner with 6,76,606 votes. Manju came as the runner-up, with 5,35,282 votes.
Case Title: Prajwal Revanna v. Sri A Manju & Ors | C.A. No. 5815/2023