BENGALURU: Holding it to be a case of “reckless registration of crime and a loosely laid offence”, the Karnataka high court has quashed the proceedings in a criminal case against BJP national president JP Nadda.
The case was registered by the Harapanahalli police in connection with Nadda’s speech delivered on May 7 in Vijayanagara district of Karnataka during the state assembly elections. The police had invoked IPC Section 171F (Punishment for undue influence or personation at an election) against Nadda, which carries up to one year imprisonment.
The allegation was that Nadda wooed, as well as threatened, voters by stating that they would lose the benefit of central schemes if they were to vote against the governing BJP. Challenging the proceedings, Nadda argued that the complaint nowhere indicates any ingredients of Section 171F .