Bengaluru: The Karnataka High Court expressed its displeasure on Friday June 17 with Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna’s absence from the hearing of an Election Petition (EP) challenging his election. The court heard the chief examination of an EP filed by a voter. G. Devarajegowda, from the constituency.
The matter came up for hearing before Justice K Natarajan.
Revanna’s election was challenged by the EP since he did not receive the maximum number of valid votes. Bribery and non-disclosure of asset were charged in the petition.
“You can’t pay advocates to attend the case and stay away,” the court observed, referring to the fact that the first respondent Revanna was not present at the hearing. During the examination, the petitioner-witness pointed out several instances in which Revanna’s assets were allegedly wrong.
Pramila Nesargi, the petitioner’s counsel and senior advocate, conducted his chief examination on June 17.
During the examination, the “Chennambika Conventional Hall,” which is said to be worth at least Rs. 5 Crore but was only declared to be worth Rs 14 lakh, was used as an example. Another example was a bank account with a declared balance of Rs. 5 lakh but an alleged deposit of Rs. 48 lakh.
There were multiple ‘benami’ assets and income tax fraud allegations against the MP.
The hearing has been adjourned to June 24.
