Bengaluru: In a major setback to Janata Dal (S), the Karnataka HC declared as null and void the election of party MP Prajwal Revanna from the Hassan Lok Sabha constituency for falsifying his income details in the affidavit filed along with his nomination papers.
Prajwal, son of former Karnataka minister H D Revanna and grandson of former prime minister H D Devegowda, was the lone JD(S) candidate to have won a seat in the 2019 general election.
Defeated Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP candidate A Manju and G Devarajegowda, a voter from Hassan and former state Congress general secretary, had filed separate petitions challenging Prajwal’s election.
Setting aside Prajwal’s election, Justice K Natarajan observed that the petitioners had proved “beyond reasonable doubt” his corrupt practices, including “non-disclosure of material facts, wrong disclosure of the value of properties, evasion of taxes, proxy voting, expenditure much higher than the limit prescribed by the Election Commission of India, and wrong acceptance of nomination paper by the returning officer”.
The judge, however, rejected Manju’s plea to declare him the winner, noting that he, too, had resorted to corrupt practices. Observing that Prajwal’s father and former minister H D Revanna, and brother Suraj Revanna, had actively helped him in his corrupt practices, Justice Natarajan issued show-cause notices to them asking why they should not be proceeded against under section 99(a)(ii) of Representation of the People Act, 1951.