K'taka: By-polls to 15 Assembly seats on Oct 24, disqualified

By-elections to Assembly constituencies represented by 15 of 17 disqualified former Congress-JD(S) MLAs will be held on October 21 and results will be declared on October 24, Karnataka Chief Electoral Officer Sanjiv Kumar said on Saturday.

However, the disqualified legislators said they will be seeking a stay on the election process on Monday, as their petition challenging the disqualification is pending before the Supreme Court.

The fifteen constituencies that will go to polls are: Athani, Kagwad, Gokak, Yellapura, Hirekerur, Ranibennur, Vijaynagara, Chickballapura, K R Pura, Yeshwanthpura, Mahalakshmi Layout, Shivajinagara, Hosakote, K R Pete and Hunsur.

The elections have not been announced for Maski and Rajarajeshwari Nagar constituencies.

On why by-polls have not been announced for two constituencies, the CEO said it cannot be held now as election petitions relating to the 2018 Assembly polls were pending in the High Court, independent of 17 disqualified MLAs case in the Supreme Court.

"In Maski and RR Nagar there is a specific request for removal of the person who got elected. Those petitions are admitted and pending in court. It has nothing to do with the disqualified legislators case," he added.

Absence and resignation of 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs during the trust vote had led to the collapse of the H D Kumaraswamy-led coalition government in July, and helped the BJP to come to power.

After examining the petition moved by leadership of both parties, the then Assembly Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar had disqualified 17 Congress-JD(S) MLAs under the anti-defection law, which they have challenged in the Supreme Court.

To a question about the then Speaker's ruling disqualifying the legislators, and if they would be eligible to contest the by-polls, Sanjiv Kumar merely said, "...the ruling is there, one is bound by the ruling."
Asked about the relevance of the petition by the disqualified MLAs to the Election Commission not to hold polls until the court decides on their petition, the CEO said, "that has no relevance now."
Asked whether they were worried as the polling dates were announced ahead of their case coming before the Supreme Court, Somashekar said, "our advocates will try to get a stay on Monday and we are not worried."