Supreme Court upholds disqualification of Karnataka MLAs, but allows them to recontest

The Supreme Court of India on November 13, upheld the disqualification of the Karnataka's 17 Members of Legislative Assembly (MLAs).

However, the apex court has cleared the way for the MLAs to recontest in the bypolls scheduled for December.

A three-judge bench comprising of Justices NV Ramana, Sanjiv Khanna and Krishna Murari had, on October 25, reserved its verdict on the petitions filed by 17 disqualified Karnataka MLAs.

These disqualified MLAs belong to the Indian National Congress (INC) and the Janata Dal (Secular). They had challenged the orders of the then Legislative Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar to disqualify them.

The then Speaker had disqualified them ahead of a trust vote in July. The coalition government led by then chief minister HD Kumaraswamy had resigned after losing the trust vote. This had paved the way for BS Yediyurappa-led Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to form the government.

The then Speaker had disqualified the MLAs till the end of the term of the Assembly, which is till 2023. This had meant that they would not have been able to contest the bypolls.

As many as 15 of the 17 seats that had fallen vacant after the MLAs were disqualified, will head for bypolls on December 5. The nomination papers for these bypolls are to be filed between November 11 and November 18. Many of these MLAs are hoping to recontest in the bypolls on a BJP ticket.

(This story will be updated when more details are available)