Sreya Kanugula
The Supreme Court dismissed a plea by Karnataka BJP leader A H Vishwanath against the Karnataka HC judgement by which he was disqualified under the anti-defection law.
The bench headed by CJI SA Bobde dismissed the plea after hearing the challenge Vishwanath put forward in the court when he stated that, that he was disqualified even as he served his term as a nominated member of the Karnataka legislative council.
The BJP leader justified his stance, stating that his disqualification should only be restricted to the office he has been disqualified from and no other office he comes back to in any capacity.
The bench disagreed and stated that if he came back elected that would be good, but him simply being nominated does not make the same argument, upholding the High Court’s decision.
They furthermore held that he could not be granted relief on a mere technical basis.
This dates back to 2019, when Vishwanath was part of the 17 MLAs who reigned in 2019 and led to the downfall of the JD(S) Congress government as he left to join BJP instead.