In Short
- Congress ad during 2023 campaign accused BJP of bribery
- Siddaramaiah, Rahul Gandhi, DK Shivakumar named in complaint
- Lower court proceedings stayed by Karnataka High Court
The Karnataka High Court has granted interim relief to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah by staying trial court proceedings in a criminal defamation case filed by the state unit of the BJP. The complaint pertains to a newspaper advertisement issued by the Congress party during the 2023 Assembly election campaign, which allegedly defamed the BJP-led government by branding it as a “40 per cent commission sarkar”.
Justice SR Krishna Kumar passed the interim order, which temporarily halts further proceedings in the defamation case pending before the magistrate court. The same judge had earlier granted similar relief to the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) and Deputy Chief Minister DK Shivakumar, who were also named as accused in the case, along with Congress leader Rahul Gandhi.
The BJP had filed the complaint in response to a series of advertisements published by the Congress party ahead of polling day in 2023. The ads, which appeared in several leading newspapers, included a “corruption rate card” listing alleged bribe amounts for transfers, tenders and government contracts during the tenure of the previous BJP government between 2019 and 2023.
The Congress campaign accused the BJP of corruption, a charge the BJP denied and characterised as defamatory. The criminal defamation case was filed naming Siddaramaiah, DK Shivakumar, Rahul Gandhi, and KPCC as accused.
