SC frees returning officer of Karnataka 2008 polls from perjury proceedings

The Karnataka High Court had termed the election of BJP candidate N S Nandiesha Reddy as void

The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside a Karnataka High Court order for initiation of criminal proceedings against the then returning officer in the 2008 Assembly elections of K R Pura constituency in Bengaluru for allegedly giving false evidence in an election petition.

A bench of Chief Justice N V Ramana and Justices A S Bopanna and Hrishikesh Roy noted that there was "no intentional falsehood uttered" by appellant Ashok Mensinkai during the hearing on election petition filed by Kavitha Mahesh before the High Court.

Mahesh claimed Mensinkai by not accepting her nomination paper denied her opportunity to contest election. Acting on her plea, the High Court also in its order of June 1, 2012, found that the officer made inconsistent statement to justify his illegal actions.

The High Court had also termed the election of BJP candidate N S Nandiesha Reddy as void. The top court, however, had stayed the High Court's order on June 11, 2012. Subsequently, Reddy has completed the term of Assembly.

Dealing with Mensinkai's plea, the top court said the election petitioner had not placed material to indicate that she had contested in any earlier election or had a wide support base in the election concerned and it is in that view she had been shut out from the contest.

Further, there is no allegation that the returning officer was acting at the instance or behest of any other candidate who was feeling threatened by the participation of the petitioner in the election process.

In fact, the election petitioner sought to present the nomination paper which was incomplete. "It cannot be said that the officer with an ulterior motive had declined to receive the nomination paper and to cover up his folly was seeking to tender false evidence before the court and thereby to justify his illegal action," the bench said.

The court also said the officer had retired from service eight years back and it would be expedient and justified to allow any proceedings against him.