New Delhi: The Supreme Court has issued an interim stay on the Karnataka High Court’s order which had declared the election of Prajwal Revanna to the Lok Sabha from the Hassan Parliamentary constituency (on the Janata Dal Secular ticket) null and void.

In the order issued on Monday (Sept. 18) by the Supreme Court Bench including Chief Justice of India (CJI) D.Y. Chandrachud and Judges J. B. Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, granting a stay on the Karnataka High Court’s order, it was also mentioned, “Though Prajwal Revanna can attend Lok Sabha sessions, he will not be eligible to vote and claim allowances as an MP.”

The stay order will remain in effect for four weeks, and the final order will be pronounced after further hearings, the Court said.

Senior advocates Mukul Rohatgi and K.K. Venugopal argued on behalf of the applicant Prajwal Revanna while senior advocate Pramila Nesargi and advocate Balaji Sreenivasan argued on behalf of the plaintiffs.

In his appeal, Prajwal Revanna had claimed that the High Court has amalgamated two election petitions filed against him to arrive at a conclusion.

In the order dated Sept. 1, 2023, Karnataka High Court Judge K. Natarajan, had declared the election of Prajwal Revanna to the Lok Sabha as ‘null and void.’ This decision was based on the grounds of his failure to disclose assets in his election affidavit. The order was pronounced on the election petitions filed by the then BJP candidate in the election, and now JDS MLA A. Manju, and Advocate Devaraje Gowda.

Prajwal had been declared the winner with 6,76,606 votes when the results were announced on May 23, 2019, while his nearest rival, A. Manju, had lost by securing 5,35,282 votes.