Karnataka HC rules in favour of K N Shanth Kumar, says he is eligible to contest state cricket association polls

As previously reported by The Indian Express, the high court had on November 22 set December 7 as the date for the elections to the KSCA managing committee. Two days later, Kumar’s nomination papers were rejected on the grounds of alleged KSCA arrears of Rs 200. He then approached the high court seeking a writ to quash the said order of the electoral officer.

In response to a query posed by the court during Thursday’s proceedings on whether Kumar should have been informed of the alleged arrears, it was stated by a counsel that while there was a facility for messages to be sent to permanent life members of the KSCA, this did not exist in the case of institutional members (in this case, through the Deccan Herald Prajavani Sports Club). Kumar’s counsel also argued that as per a Supreme Court precedent, it was sufficient if the payment was made on the day the electoral officer examined the nomination papers.

The court on Saturday thus quashed the challenged order of the electoral officer. It also noted that since neither Kumar nor Venkatesh Prasad intended to withdraw from the election, and candidate Kalpana Venkatachar had already withdrawn, the announcement of the eligible candidate list was set for 3 pm on Saturday (prior to this petition, it was to be announced on November 26).

With the matter resolved, KSCA elections are now set to go ahead as previously directed, on December 7.