As per the petitioner, promising 'freebies' amounted to corrupt practice.
Published Dec 08, 2025 | 3:48 PM ⚊ Updated Dec 08, 2025 | 3:48 PM
Siddaramaiah in Mysuru. (X)
Synopsis: As per the petitioner, promising ‘freebies’ amounted to corrupt practice. “The schemes like free travel for women infringed Article 14 of the Constitution and discriminated against men,” the petition claimed.
Supreme Court on Monday, 8 December, issued notice on plea challenging Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah’s victory from Varuna constituency in the 2023 assembly election, and sought a response from the Congress leader.
According to a PTI report, the order was passed by Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta, based on a petition filed by one K Shankara, who is a voter from the chief minister’s constituency.
As per the petitioner, promising ‘freebies’ amounted to corrupt practice. “The schemes like free travel for women infringed Article 14 of the Constitution and discriminated against men,” the petition claimed.
Earlier, in July 2023, Karnataka High Court, heard a similar petition blaming the election manifesto of the Congress party which promised five “guarantees” as corrupt practices amounting to bribery and also undue influence under Section 123(2) of the Representation of the People Act.
The earlier petition alleged that Siddaramaiah had breached the provisions of the Constitution and the rules and guidelines under The Representation of the People Act.
The petition claimed: “The said guarantees are in the nature of offer and promises made by the candidate and by the Indian National Congress party. This was done with the consent of the respondent (Siddaramaiah). They are in the form of gratification to the electorate of Varuna Constituency and with the object of directly inducing the electorate to vote for the Congress party candidate namely the respondent. The consideration was the vote in favour of the Respondent as a gratification with the motive and reward.”
According to The Hindu report, in April 2025 the Karnataka High Court rejected another similar petition citing the judgments of the apex court.
Justice Yadav also noted that already two petitions, in which return of two other MLAs of the Congress in the 2023 election was challenged, were dismissed by the High Court by declaring that “promises in the election manifesto by itself do not amount to corrupt practices, by placing reliance on the judgments of the apex court”.
