The Supreme Court today refused to set aside a Karnataka High Court order, which has disqualified woman BJP MP J Shantha from Bellary (ST) Lok Sabha seat, but allowed her to attend the Parliamentary proceedings without exercising her voting right or availing any perquisite.
Observing that BJP MP election in 2009 had “materially affected” the result of the election, the court ordered re-counting to be completed within four weeks.
Chandregowda, in his petition, had also accused BJP MP Shantha of producing a false caste certificate. He had submitted that Shantha who actually belonged to “Boya” community, which comes under backward community in southern Indian states of Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh, had submitted a caste certificate which says “Hindu Valmiki” community, which is a Scheduled Tribe since Bellary is a reserved constituency for the scheduled tribes.
However, this ground of the election petitioner was not considered by the court.