New Delhi: A single-judge bench of the Karnataka high court comprising Justice K. Natarajan declared null and void the election of Karnataka MP Prajwal Revanna on Friday (September 1).Revanna is a politician from the Janata Dal (Secular) (JD(S)) party and represents Karnataka’s Hassan constituency in parliament. He is the JD(S)’s only MP from the state.His disqualification came after the court had partially allowed petitions by fellow JD(S) politician and Karnataka MLA A. Manju, and Hassan resident G. Devarajegowda, alleging that Revanna had concealed information from his election affidavit for the 2019 general election, India Today reported.Among the allegations against Revanna are that he committed “income tax fraud”, under-reported the value of a convention hall by over Rs 4 crore and declared his bank balance as Rs 5 lakh despite it having a deposit of Rs 48 lakh, a report by PTI said.The high court then directed the election commission to issue a notice against Revanna’s father H.D. Revanna and brother Suraj for election malpractice.But it also directed the commission to take action against petitioner Manju for the same reason.“H.D. Revanna and Suraj Revanna are named in the complaint under Representation of People’s Act for having committed corrupt practice at the time of election, and also A. Manju, who is also involved in corrupt practice,” the high court said according to PTI.Manju had asked to be instated as Hassan MLA following Revanna’s disqualification, but the high court rejected his plea because of corruption allegations against him, The Hindu reported.Its report added that the court had rejected in 2020 an earlier petition filed by Manju alleging election malpractice by Revanna, following which the former successfully appealed in the Supreme Court.In July and August this year, the Telangana high court disqualified two legislators on the grounds that they also concealed information from their election affidavits. Both were MLAs from the ruling Bharat Rashtra Samithi.One of the MLAs, Vanama Venkateswara Rao, has secured a Supreme Court direction keeping his disqualification in abeyance, The Hindu reported.Earlier this year, Uttar Pradesh MLA Abdullah Azam Khan and Lok Sabha MP Rahul Gandhi were disqualified as legislators within 48 and 24 hours respectively of their being sentenced to two years in prison.BJP MP Ram Shankar Katheria was also sentenced to two years in prison last month but got his conviction stayed before parliament could suspend him.
