Southern States
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Karnataka
SC upholds Bagalkot MLA's election
By Our Staff Correspondent
BIJAPUR
FEB. 1.
The Supreme Court has struck down a High Court of Karnataka order setting aside the election of the Bagalkot MLA, P.H.Pujar.
Ending the 10-month uncertainty over who should represent Bagalkot constituency, the Supreme Court, in its judgment on Thursday, ruled the election of Mr. Pujar valid.
On March 31 last, High Court set aside the election of Mr. Pujar on a petition filed by the Congress candidate, Rajashekhar Kanti, who lost to the former by a margin of 138 votes.
Mr. Pujar appealed to the Supreme Court, which stayed the High Court ruling, and ordered recounting of the rejected ballot papers.
Subsequently, the victory margin of Mr. Pujar increased as he polled an additional 20 votes in the recounting conducted in October last.
After hearing the case extensively, the Supreme Court ruled that there was no ground for setting aside the election of Mr. Pujar, and pronounced the High Court order in the case null and void.
The senior advocates, K.K.Venugopal, Nanjunda Reddy, C.H.Jadhav and Sukumaran argued the case on behalf of Mr. Pujar.
Supporters of the BJP MLA celebrated the Supreme Court judgment by bursting crackers.
Meanwhile, Mr. Pujar, told The Hindu over phone from Bangalore on Friday that the judgment gave him the "much sought relief", and now he could fully concentrate on development works in his constituency.
He said although he had been confident of getting justice from Supreme Court, there was an air of uncertainty throughout the period when the case was pending.
Precious time, which could have been used to serve the people, was lost in an undue and enforced legal battle, he added.
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