The Karnataka High Court on Thursday disqualified JD(S) MLA D C Gowrishankar Swamy for electoral malpractice, however, the Tumakuru Rural constituency legislator’s suspension was kept in suspension for one month to allow Swamy to file an appeal in the Supreme Court.

Swamy was disqualified under Section 101 of the The Representation of the People Act by a single-judge bench of the Karnataka High Court which was delivering a verdict on a petition filed by BJP leader B Suresh Gowda, five years ago, accusing the JD(S) legislator of distributing fake insurance bonds to voters during the 2018 Karnataka Assembly election.

Justice S Sunil Dutt Yadav dictated the orders on Thursday from the Kalaburagi bench of the Karnataka High Court. Justice Yadav had earlier reserved the judgment after completion of arguments on February 17.

Advocate Hemanth Raj, who represented Swamy, sought the suspension of the order as per Section 116(B) of the Act to allow him to file an appeal before the Supreme Court, as elections to the Karnataka Assembly had already been announced.

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Advocate Raj told the court that Swamy was planning to contest the upcoming polls and hence must be given time for an appeal. Gowda’s counsel opposed the request, but was turned down by the High Court, who suspended Swamy’s suspension, allowing the lawmaker time to file an appeal in the Supreme Court.

The other accused in the case—Balanetraiah, Arehalli Manjunath, Krishnegowda, Renukamma and Sunanda—were also convicted of election malpractices, however, the suspension of the order was only in respect of Swamy and not the other accused.

In his petition, BJP’s B Suresh Gowda, had claimed that Swamy and his accomplices violated Section 123 of The Representation People Act by allegedly distributed fake insurance bonds to 32,000 adults and 16,000 minors, after the Model Code of Conduct came into force on March 27, 2018.

Gowda, who lost the last election to Swamy, had approached the high court with his plea in July 2018.

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BJP stalwart and former Karnataka chief Minister BS Yediyurappa’s son is likely to contest against veteran Congress leader Siddaramaiah from the Varuna seat in Mysuru in upcoming elections in the state.

Speaking at an emergency presser in Bengaluru, held day after the Election Commission announced elections in Karnataka will be held on May 10,  BS Yediyurappa—the spearhead of BJP’s poll campaign in Karnataka—revealed that high-level discussions by the saffron party’s top brass are being held to decide if his son BY Vijayendra, will be fielded from Varuna—a seat currently represented by former chief minister and Congress veteran Siddaramaiah’s son Yathindra.

Yediyurappa, who is currently in the eye of the storm over the internal reservation issue among Scheduled Castes (SC) stood by the BJP regime’s decision to implement the AJ Sadashiva panel commission’s recommendations, saying that the reservation quota for Lingayats and other communities was justified and no injustice has been done to Muslims either as they will now get reservation in the Economically Weaker Sections quota.

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Yediyurappa also claimed that the Congress will not get more than 70 seats in the 224-seat Karnataka assembly.

On Monday, hundreds of protesters belonging to the Banjara community attacked the home and office of BS Yediyurappa in Shivamogga area of the state during a massive demonstration against a recent reservation decree by the Basavaraj Bommai government in the state.

Karnataka’s Basavaraj Bommai-led BJP regime has decided to implement the AJ Sadashiva panel commission report on internal reservation among SC’s. Based on the commission’s report, the Bommai government has recommended to the Centre a new breakup of the reservation for Scheduled Castes in education and jobs.

The recommendations suggest that out of the 17 percent reservation for the SC community, 6 percent be earmarked for Scheduled Castes (left), 5.5 percent for Scheduled Castes (right), 4.5 percent for “touchables” and one percent to others.

The Banjara community has demanded the Karnataka government to withdraw the proposed amendments as they would stand to lose out if the recommendations are implemented.

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Himanta Biswa Sarma retracted his statements inside the state Assembly after the Congress filed a breach of privilege complaint against the Assam Chief Minister on Wednesday.

A complaint was filed by Congress Legislature Party with the Principal Secretary of Assam Assembly for Sarma’s remarks during a debate on former Wayanad MP Rahul Gandhi’s disqualification from Lok Sabha.

Sarma later withdrew his complaint, however, the Congress has not withdrawn its privilege notice and demanded an apology from the Assam CM.

A complaint letter by signed by over 20 Congress MLAs and addressed to the Principal Secretary said: “Today in the House, the Leader of the House Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma has stated that he is aware of the discussion held in the ACLP (Assam Congress Legislature Party) room. Further, he has also stated that some Hon’ble Member of the ACLP has informed him about the decision taken in the CLP meeting held on 28th March, 2023.”

The ACLP said the statement by Sarma was false and hence was bringing a breach of privilege against Leader of the House Dr Himanta Biswa Sarma, while urging the principal secretary to take up the notice for “further action” according to the law.

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Commotion erupted in the Assam Assembly on Wednesday morning after the Congress introduced an Adjournment Motion to discuss the disqualification of Rahul Gandhi from Lok Sabha following his conviction by a Surat court in a 2019 criminal defamation case.

Introducing the notice, Leader of the Opposition Debabrata Saikia said they want to send a resolution to the President of India requesting her to uphold the Constitution as it is the same for every citizen and the executive must act fairly to protect it.

In his reply to the motion, Himanta Sarma said that expressing opinions on judicial matters is unprecedented and claimed he knew that the ACLP had taken a decision last night to “create noise” in the House.

 Replying to the motion, Mr Sarma said, “It’s unprecedented that we’re expressing opinions on a judicial matter here. I know that a decision was taken by Congress Legislature Party last night to create noise here.

Sarma later parts of his claim that someone from the opposition had informed him of the Congress’ plan the previous night.

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