Supreme Court stays Karnataka High Court order quashing 2019 election of JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna

The Supreme Court on Monday stayed a Karnataka High Court order that had declared the election of Prajwal Revanna from the Hassan parliamentary constituency null and void. [Prajwal Revanna @ Prajwal R vs Sri A Manju and ors].Prajwal Revanna is the sole Janata Dal (Secular) Member of Parliament in the Lok Sabha and the grandson of former Prime Minister, HD Deve Gowda.A bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra today issued an interim stay on the High Court order that set aside his 2019 election. However, the top court also clarified that Prajwal would not get any perks or allowances as a legislator, or be allowed to vote in the Lok Sabha during the course of the stay order..The Supreme Court was hearing an appeal filed by Revanna challenging a September 1 Karnataka High Court that had set aside his parliamentary election..In the judgment under challenge, High Court judge, Justice K Natarajan had held Prajwal Revanna guilty of corrupt practices on several counts.The allegations against Revanna included the non-disclosure of material facts, wrong disclosure of property assets, evading taxes, proxy voting, and exorbitant expenditures crossing the limit prescribed by the Election Commission of India. The High Court also held that his nomination paper had been wrongly accepted by the Returning Officer..In the same order, the High Court issued notice to Prajwal Revanna’s father, HD Revanna, and his brother, Suraj Revanna to show cause why they should not be named as per Section 99(a)(ii) of the Representation of the People Act for committing corrupt practices to aid Prajwal Revanna’s election. HD Revanna is an in-charge minister for the Hassan district and a sitting public works department (PWD) minister.The High Court's issue of notice has been challenged before the Supreme Court as well in appeals filed by HD Revanna and Suraj Revanna..Further, the High Court found that the complainant, a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) candidate A Manju, who was also the defeated candidate, was himself involved in corrupt practices. In its judgment, the High Court had called it unfortunate that Manju later joined the JDS and was elected as a Member of the Legislative Assembly from Arakalgud on its ticket. .Karnataka High Court sets aside 2019 election of JD(S) MP Prajwal Revanna .The Supreme Court had earlier, on two occasions, set aside Karnataka High Court orders that had dismissed challenges to Prajwal Revanna's election.The first was in December 2021, when a bench of Justices Sanjay Kishan Kaul and MM Sundresh allowed Manju's appeal against a January 2020 Karnataka High Court judgment that had dismissed Manju's petition on the ground that it was not supported by a requisite affidavit. The same bench, in February last year, remitted back to the High Court an election petition by another complainant. This plea was also ordered to be heard along with Manju's plea..Senior Advocates Mukul Rohatgi and KK Venugopal briefed by advocates Mayank Kshirsagar, Abhishek Bharti and Nishanth AV appeared for Prajwal Revanna before the Supreme Court today.