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Under Sections 3 and 4 of the Karnataka Local Authorities (Prohibition of Defection) Act, they were disqualified as councillors by the Deputy Commissioner of the Chamarajanagar district. They had challenged their removal in a writ petition before a single judge bench in 2021 but their dismissal was upheld. They had then filed an appeal before the division bench.
Pavithra, L Nagamani, Gangamma, Naseer Shariff, Prakash, Ramakrishna N and Nagadundaramma were elected as councillors in 2018 on BSP party ticket. In 2020, when the election to the post of president and vice president of the CMC was held, they defied the party’s whip to vote for the official candidate G Jayamari. Instead, Gangamma, the rebel candidate, was elected as president with the help of BJP.
Jayamari had sought their dismissal from the post of councillors, and they were disqualified by the Chamarajanagar Deputy Commissioner.