HC expresses displeasure over absence of MP Prajwal Revanna during hearing of election petition

Bengaluru: The High Court of Karnataka on Friday expressed displeasure over Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna not being present during the hearing of an election petition (EP) challenging his election. The court witnessed the chief examination of the EP filed by one G Devarajegowda, a voter from the constituency.

The matter came up for hearing before Justice K Natarajan.

Justice Natarajan who is on the roster in the Dharwad Bench was in Bengaluru today to hear the petition. The EP challenged Revanna’s election on grounds that he had not secured the maximum number of valid votes. The petition alleged bribery and non-disclosure of assets.

Noticing that the first respondent Revanna himself was not present at the hearing, the court observed, “You can’t pay advocates to attend the case and stay away.” During the examination, the petitioner-witness pointed out various instances wherein the assets declared by Revanna were allegedly wrong.

The second respondent in the case is A Manju, the defeated candidate in the same election.

His chief examination was also conducted by the petitioner’s counsel and senior advocate Pramila Nesargi today.

During the examination, the example of the “Chennambika Conventional Hall” was cited, which is said to be worth at least Rs five crore but declared as worth only Rs 14 lakh. Another example was a bank balance in an account declared as Rs five lakh but allegedly having a deposit of Rs 48 lakh.

It was alleged that there were several ‘benami’ assets of the MP and income tax fraud.

The Court adjourned the hearing to June 24.

This EP was earlier dismissed by the High Court on technical grounds that the annexures were not attested. The Supreme Court, however, set aside that order and sent the petition back for hearing.

Another EP was filed against Prajwal Revanna by A Manju, the defeated candidate in the Lok Sabha election held in 2019.