This story is from November 21, 2020

High court upholds Dharwad ZP members’ disqualification

The high court bench has upheld the decision of the State Election Commission (SEC) to disqualify four BJP members of Dharwad zilla panchayat for violating the whip issued by the party.
High court upholds Dharwad ZP members’ disqualification
Representative image
DHARWAD: The high court bench has upheld the decision of the State Election Commission (SEC) to disqualify four BJP members of Dharwad zilla panchayat for violating the whip issued by the party.
Annappa Desai, Ratna Patil, Manjawwa Harijan and Jyothi Bentur are the members who had been disqualified by the SEC on June 10 this year following a complaint by the then ZP president Chaitra Shirur and the president of Dharwad district unit of BJP Iranna Jadi.
The four members had allegedly violated the whip by voting in favour of the motion when the Congress members had moved a no-confidence motion against Chaitra. This had resulted in ouster of Chaitra from the post of the president and Vijayalakshmi Patil of Congress had occupied the chair.
The four members had approached the high court questioning the SEC’s order and the HC on June 25 had granted interim stay to the order.
After hearing the arguments of both sides, the single judge bench of Justice Krishnakumar on Thursday upheld the SEC’s order disqualifying the four members.
Advocates Arun Joshi and Avinash Angadi represented Chaitra and the BJP while Ponnappa had represented the disqualified members. Arun Joshi has filed a caveat in the high court apprehending that the disqualified members may go into appeal.
The Congress had moved the no-confidence motion against the then ZP president Chaitra Shirur on February 5, 2019, and sensing the possibility of cross voting, Iranna Jadi, president of Dharwad rural district BJP had issued whip to all 10 BJP members to ensure that the no-confidence motion is defeated on the floor of the house.
The amended Karnataka Gram Swaraj and Panchayat Raj Act stipulates that a special meeting could be called if it is demanded by 1/3rd of the total number of the members in the house and a no-confidence motion can be moved if 2/3rd of the members press for it.
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