K’taka HC dismisses interim application of Subbareddy

Bengaluru: In a setback for S N Subbareddy, the Congress MLA from Bagepalli the Karnataka High Court has dismissed his interim application to reject the election dispute petition filed by defeated BJP candidate C. Muniraju.

This ruling comes after Subbareddy had earlier faced a similar defeat when his previous interim application was also dismissed by the High Court.

The High Court, led by Justice M G S Kamal, heard the arguments and observed that significant progress had already been made in the election dispute case, including the examination of evidence. The court stated that at this stage, it would not entertain the application to dismiss the petition. Subbareddy will now have to face the full proceedings of the election dispute petition. The case has been adjourned to December 11, when the court will proceed with witness examination.

Senior advocate Nalina Mahegouda, representing C. Muniraju, defeated candidate argued that both the High Court and the Supreme Court had previously dismissed similar interim applications and urged the court to continue with the election dispute hearing.

In the 2023 Karnataka Legislative Assembly elections, S. N. Subbareddy from the Congress party was elected as the MLA for the Bagepalli constituency. However, C. Muniraju from the BJP filed an election dispute petition, claiming that Subbareddy had filed a defective nomination paper.

The petition alleged that Subbareddy had concealed details about his assets and failed to disclose pending property taxes in his affidavit. Muniraju is seeking the annulment of Subbareddy’s election due to these alleged discrepancies.

To counter the petition, Subbareddy filed an interim application to dismiss it, which was dismissed by the court.