SC agrees to hear plea of disqualified Karnataka MLAs seeking to contest bypolls for Assembly seats
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear the plea of 17 disqualified Karnataka MLAs who are seeking to contest bypolls for 15 Assembly seats in the state.
A three-judge bench headed by justice N V Ramana said it would hear on September 25 the plea in which the disqualified MLAs have sought interim relief to contest the by-elections.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for the disqualified MLAs, told the bench that as per disqualification orders of then Speaker K R Ramesh Kumar, these persons cannot contest elections for the remaining period of this Assembly which will end in 2023.
Meanwhile, the counsel representing Election Commission (EC), told the bench that bypolls for 15 vacant Assembly seats have been notified and court should not stay the elections.
The EC's counsel also said the Speaker's order disqualifying these MLAs cannot deprive them of their right to contest bypolls.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
