Karnataka HC Cancels Malur Assembly Constituency Results: Orders Recount Of Votes Within 4 Weeks

Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court on Tuesday set aside the election of Congress legislator K Y Nanjegowda, representing the Malur constituency in Kolar district, ordering a recount of votes polled in the 2023 state assembly elections. It has directed the Election Commission of India (ECI) to conduct recounting of votes and announce the results within the next four weeks.

The verdict came from a bench led by Justice R Devadas, which was hearing an election petition filed by BJP’s KS Manjunath Gowda, who had lost to Nanjegowda. The petition alleged irregularities during the counting process. After nearly two years of proceedings, the court ruled in favour of a recount and declared Nanjegowda’s election invalid.

However, acting on a plea by Nanjegowda’s counsel, the High Court has put its own order declaring the MLA seat 'invalid' on hold for 30 days. This interim relief allows the Congress MLA to move the Supreme Court. If the apex court does not intervene within that period, the MLA seat will become invalid and a recount will be held. Similarly, if the Supreme Court stays the High Court order, there will be no problem with the MLA seat.

The court has directed Kolar District Election Officer Venkataraju to explain whether the hard disk containing the footage of the vote counting process in Malur constituency was obtained from M.Ikea Business Solutions Private Limited and submit an affidavit.

Background of the case: In the 2023 Karnataka Assembly elections, K Y Nanjegowda, who contested from the Congress from the Malur constituency, won. The petitioner, who has questioned this, said, proper arrangements were not made at the counting center for the agents of all the 15 candidates, who contested the election.

The counting of votes should have been done in a single room, but the counting was done in two separate rooms. This violated the provisions of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and the rules issued by the ECI. Therefore, the action of the ECI in declaring Nanjegowda as the winning candidate should be quashed. In addition, a direction should be given to recount the votes in the constituency, also he requested.

In the 2023 elections, BJP candidate K. S. Manjunath Gowda lost to Congress candidate K. Y. Nanjegowda by a margin of 248 votes.