The High Court of Karnataka on Friday ordered issue of notice to Prajwal Revanna, MP from Hassan constituency, on two petitions questioning the legality of his election to the Lok Sabha in the April-May elections.
Justice John Michael Cunha passed the order on the two petitions, filed by A. Manju, the BJP candidate who contested unsuccessfully against Mr. Prajwal, and G. Devaraje Gowda, a voter from Hassan.
It was alleged in the petitions that Mr. Prajwal’s assets disclosure was not in the prescribed format and that he had suppressed material facts on his assets, besides making false statements regarding the ownership of properties, balance in bank accounts, and liabilities.
“Non-disclosure, wrong disclosure, incorrect disclosure, suppression of material facts which Mr. Prajwal ought to have disclosed amounts to corrupt practice... A false declaration is made to mislead the electorate of Hassan parliamentary constituency,” it was claimed in one of the petitions.
The petitioners have also alleged that the non-disclosure of correct information on assets and liabilities was intentional to mislead voters.
The services of government vehicles and a couple of public servants, attached to Mr. Prajwal’s father H.D. Revanna, who was then a Minister in the State government, were used for transporting money to induce the voters, the petitioners claimed. And Mr. Revanna had allegedly diverted ₹273 crore from an amount of ₹576 crore allocated to Kaveri Neeravari Nigam for taking up development work on temples, community halls and concrete roads in several taluks, alleged Mr. Gowda in his petition.
It was also claimed that Mr. Prajwal exceeded the expenditure limit during the polls.