Karnataka High court to hear plea against MLA Haris’ election

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has decided to proceed with the hearing on an election petition against Shantinagar Congress MLA NA Haris.

K Shivakumar, the BJP candidate whom Haris defeated in last year’s assembly polls, has filed the election petition. Shivakumar has claimed that the election should be set aside since it is materially affected under Section 100(1)(d)(i) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, on account of having accepted the nomination improperly.

Haris questioned the petition and filed an Interlocutory Application (IA) seeking its dismissal, stating it is not in compliance with Section 81 read with Section 83 of the Representation of the People Act.

Rejecting Haris' IA, Justice Suraj Govindaraj stated that if the election petition's claim revolves around the improper acceptance of the returned candidate's nomination papers, there is no need for additional pleading regarding how such acceptance has impacted the election results.

"The election petitioner would, however, have to establish the manner in which or the reasons to hold the nomination form to be improperly accepted,” the court said.