PRABHAKAR RANE Vs. ASNOTIKAR VASANT KAMALAKAR

JUDGEMENT

(1.) THIS election petition is filed questioning the election of the 1st respondent Sri Asnotikar Vasant Kamalakar to the Karnataka Legislative Assembly from No. 172 Karwar Assembly Constituency. The petitioner and the 1st and the 2nd respondents had contested in the General Election for constituting the 11th Karnataka legislative Assembly and all these three candidates had contested from No. 172 Karwar Assembly Constituency segment. The petitioner contested as the candidate sponsored by Bharatiya Janatha Party, the 1st respondent as the candidate sponsored by Indian National Congress and the 2nd respondent sponsored by Janatha Dal. According to the petitioner, he has been contesting from No. 172 Karwar Assembly Constituency since 1983. According to him, in the years 1983, 1985 and 1993 he contested as the Indian National Congress candidate and got elected. However, in the election of 1994 he lost the election due to Anti Establishment Movement and division in the Indian National Congress in Karnataka. According to him, in that election it was the 1st respondent who got elected. Thereafter, in the present election of 1999 he again lost in the election. Further, according to him, he lost the election because of the corrupt practices carried out by the 1st respondent. Hence the present petition.

(2.) THE contention of the petitioner is that the segment No. 172 of Karwar Assembly Constituency comprises of approximately one lakh and twenty one thousand and odd voters belonging to different castes and religions. Out of the different categories of castes, according to the petitioner, there are 16 Communities which have large number of voters and whose votes decide the fate of a candidate. These communities and their population are as follows :

(3.) THE petitioner contends that taking disadvantage of these Community regulations and rules, the 1st respondent had arranged series of meeting either in their principal worshipping deity's temples or in their community Halls and were mandated by the Priests and the Chiefs to vote in favour of the 1st respondent. This was totally a corrupt practice, according to the petitioner. Further in furtherance of the same, it is contended that appeals to the voters of each of these Communities on the basis of their castes and communities have been carried out systematically in the meetings so arranged as well as by publication of advertisements in a local news paper called as "karavali MANJAVU". According to the petitioner, this is the only newspaper which is widely circulated and read by each and every person in Karwar District. He contends that series of appeals to various communities through their elders and prominent persons holding key posts in the Government and Congress (I) Party (1st respondent's party) have influenced the voters to cast the votes in favour of the 1st respondent.