Karnataka: SC junks Ram Sene chief’s plea to debar Congress candidates

The Supreme Court on Thursday dismissed a plea seeking to debar Congress candidates from the Karnataka Assembly elections for seeking votes on religious grounds by promising welfare schemes for a minority community in its manifesto.

A bench of Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, Justice AM Khanwilkar and Justice DY Chandrachud rejected the plea by Sri Ram Sena leader Pramod Muthalik, observing that promising welfare measures to a community which is socially and economically backward, cannot be treated as seeking votes in the name of religion.

The court also said that it cannot interfere after the notification of the election and that too, just 48 hours before the polling.

Muthalik had contended that seeking votes in the name of religion was against the election code and pointed to the promises made to a minority community in the Congress' manifesto.