'Prima Facie Motivated': Karnataka High Court Stays FIR Against BJP's Sringeri MLA DN Jeevaraja In Postal Ballot Tampering Case

The Karnataka High Court today stayed till May 7, an FIR registered against BJP MLA D.N Jeevaraja for allegedly tampering with the ballot boxes in a recent vote recount in the Sringeri assembly constituency.The single judge bench of Justice V Srishananda orally remarked that the FIR was prima facie 'motivated' and asked the State to place alleged incriminating material on record.It ordered, “… Learned SPP for the State would submit that he would like to place necessary material on record and request the matter be listed on 7 May. Relist on 7 May—interim stay to be in force till the next date of hearing”.The Court had previously ordered a recount of the postal ballot votes entered in the 2023 Sringeri Assembly Constituency Elections, which declared the Congress Candidate T.D Rajegowda victorious. BJP's Jeevaraj had challenged the 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.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 deemed invalid in the recount. As a result, the BJP candidate Jeevaraj was declared as the winner with a lead of 52 votes under Section 66 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, on May 3, 2026.Congress agent Sudhir Kumar Murolli then 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, the newly declared BJP MLA approached the High Court, stating that the complaint is politically motivated.The deputy commissioner has also filed a similar plea before the High Court seeking to quash the FIR registered against him.Today, when the matter was taken up, the State submitted that even the Central observer found evidence of flagrant vote tampering.“You can take half an hour, but you can't improve upon the FIR…It [FIR] is nothing but an abuse of the process of law. Even the official declaration was late. What is going on? Under the court's directions, when counting is on, necessary precautions would be taken….It was a court-assisted recount. Anything wrong would have been come back”, the single judge bench orally remarked while stating that the case was 'prima facie' a fit one to grant an interim stay on criminal proceedings against the newly elected BJP MLA.Further, the judge orally said:“… I was also a booth agent a very long time ago. I know how it happens. But I don't belong to any political party. Even if it was Rajegowde [Congress candidate] instead of Jeevaraj [BJP candidate] as the complainant seeking the quashing of FIR, I would have stayed it…based on principles of natural justice”.Accordingly, the matter will be heard again on May 7.Case Title: D.N Jeevaraja v. State of Karnataka & Anr.Case No: WP 14698/2026

'Prima Facie Motivated': Karnataka High Court Stays FIR Against BJP's Sringeri MLA DN Jeevaraja In Postal Ballot Tampering Case

Sebin James

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