Karnataka High Court Reserves Verdict On BJP Leader DN Jeevaraja's Plea Against FIR In Postal Ballot Tampering Case

The Karnataka High Court on Friday (July 31) reserved its verdict on BJP leader DN Jeevaraja's plea seeking quashing of FIR lodged over alleged ballot tampering during recounting of votes of Sringeri Assembly constituency.

After hearing all the parties for over an hour, Justice M Nagaprasanna said: "heard, reserved".

Earlier the court had orally asked as to how tampering by Jeevaraja could be alleged when the election documents and ballots of Sringeri constituency were in the exclusive custody of the Election Commission of India (ECI).

BJP's Jeevaraja had initially challenged the 2023 election results through a three-year-long litigation that culminated in his favour in April 2026, resulting in a vote recount on May 2, 2026.

The High Court had in April 2026 ordered a recount of the postal ballot votes entered in the 2023 Sringeri Assembly Constituency Elections, which had declared Congress candidate T.D. Rajegowda victorious.

During the recount, the returning officer verified the previously rejected 279 postal ballots, which resulted in a favourable outcome for the BJP candidate. 255 postal votes in favour of Congress legislator Rajegowda were also deemed invalid in the recount.

As a result, the BJP candidate Jeevaraj was declared the winner with a lead of 52 votes under Section 66 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, on May 3, 2026.

However, on 11 May, the Supreme Court had stayed the effect of the recount exercise, which resulted in the unseating of BJP's DN Jeevaraja who was sworn in as the MLA.

Hearing the appeal filed by Congress member TD Rajegowda, who got unseated as the MLA after the recount in the constitutency, the Apex Court directed restoration of status quo ante (state of affairs before the recount), observing that the Returning Officer's exercise of reverifying already validated postal ballots was prima facie invalid.

In the appeal before the Supreme Court, Rajegowda argued that, though the High Court had only ordered the re-verification of 279 rejected postal ballots, the Returning Officer also recounted 562 valid postal ballots that were in Rajegowda's favour.

Soon after the postal ballot recount which resulted in Jeevaraja's favour, Congress agent Sudhir Kumar Murolli filed a complaint with the Chikkamanglur Police Station alleging that the BJP candidate has committed offences under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for cheating), 471 (using forged document as genuine), 120B (criminal conspiracy), 149 (common object) and Section 136 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (election irregularities).

The FIR alleged that the BJP candidate conspired with the returning officer and deputy commissioner to manipulate the recounting process and invalidate the postal votes in favour of the Congress candidate.

Challenging the aforesaid FIR, Jeevaraja approached the High Court, stating that the complaint was politically motivated. The deputy commissioner has also filed a similar plea before the High Court seeking to quash the FIR registered against him.

Case Title: D.N. Jeevaraja v. State of Karnataka & Anr.

Case No: WP 14698/2026