Bengaluru: A week after Sringeri Assembly constituency, which had witnessed recounting of the election results of May 23, resulting in outster of sitting Congress MLA and declaring BJP candidate as winner, the Supreme Court has stayed the proceedings and asked the Congress MLA to continue till the court took a decision.
The Supreme Court bench comprising Justice Sanjay Kumar and Justice Vinod Chandran have issued notices to the State Election Commission and the State government, before posting the matter for further hearing on May 21.
The bench directed for keeping in abeyance all the steps taken, pursuant to the Karnataka High Court's order of April 6, 2026, and restored status of the Congress candidate T D Raje Gowa as MLA in an interim measure. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, Mukul Rohatgi and Devadatt Kamat representing Raje Gowda had questioned the validity of the High Court order.
Senior advocate V Giri, appearing for BJP candidate D N Jeevaraj contended that the Speaker of Karnataka Legislative Assembly had already administered the oath for Jeevaraj.
The court, while issuing notice to the respondents -- Karnataka government, election commission and others ordered status quo in the matter saying that the democracy can't be hijacked like this.
During 2023 general elections to Karnataka Legislative Assembly, Sringeri constituency had witnessed high voltage fight, where Congress candidate Raje Gowda was declared elected by a slender margin of 201 votes.
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Defeated BJP candidate D N Jeevaraj had approached the court, seeking reverification of postal ballots, numbering 1800. While Jeevaraj had polled 692 postal votes, Raje Gowda had polled 569 votes.
During reverification, it was found that Jeevaraj had polled 690 postal votes and Raje Gowda had polled only 314 postal votes. Another 255 invalid postal votes had been added to Raje Gowda's tally and he was declared victorious.
After the reverification, the State Election Commission issued certificate to Jeevaraj and based on the certificate, he took oath as MLA.
