Supreme Court issues notice to Congress MLA Ranganath on plea challenging his election

BJP leader D Krishna Kumar, who lost the election, alleged that the winning candidate from Congress party, Ranganath distributed dinner kitchen utensils and prepaid cards to voters to garner votes in his favour.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court has issued notice to Congress leader Dr H D Ranganath on a plea filed by BJP leader D Krishna Kumar challenging his election from Kunigal seat in Karnataka assembly elections in 2023.

Kumar, who lost the election, alleged that the winning candidate from Congress party, Ranganath distributed dinner kitchen utensils and prepaid cards to voters to garner votes in his favour. He further alleged that Ranganath had lied about his assets and liabilities in his affidavit. Thereby, his election should be cancelled and declared as null and void.

A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Ujjal Bhuyan sought a response from Ranganath and fixed the matter for further hearing after two weeks.

Kumar challenged the Karnataka High Court's order which did not find merit in the election petition on June 21.

"The election petition does not contain a concise statement of material fact and also does not disclose a triable issue or cause of action. The contentions and allegations of the petitioner is based on assumption and imagination and same cannot be a basis for challenging the election," the HC had said.