Karnataka HC quashes election held to the State’s medical council

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court has declared the election held for the Karnataka Medical Council as null and void and ordered disciplinary action against the Returning Officer (RO) who held the election.

Justice M Nagaprasanna at Kalaburagi Bench of the High Court issued the order after a petition filed by Dr Ganchinamani Naganatha, a Kalaburagi-based medical practitioner.

The RO, D Pandurang Garag, who is also the Joint Registrar of Co-operative Societies, had approved a voters’ list containing 37,298 voters as eligible to vote in the elecrion as against the voters list containing 42,014 voters submitted by the Council.

The court ruled that the RO had fraudulently approved the voters’ list.

Elections to the Council were held on January 23, 2020 based on the voters’ list approved by the RO and results were declared on January 25, 2020.

The court also mentioned in its order that new voters’ list must be prepared and new elections must be held in the next 6 months.

The court directed the State’s Lokayukta to initiate proceedings against the RO and submit a report to the State government within nine months.