The Karnataka High Court on Friday, April 21, dismissed a petition by Congress leader Vinay Kulkarni seeking permission to enter Dharwad and stay there for a month. Vinay, who is the Congress candidate from the Dharwad Assembly constituency, is also the prime accused in the murder case of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yogesh Gowda, who was killed in 2016. Vinay was arrested in November 2021 in connection with the case. In August 2021, he was granted bail by the Supreme Court with certain conditions, including prohibiting his entry in Dharwad without the permission of the jurisdictional court.
The Special Court of People's Representatives in Bengaluru had rejected Vinay’s petition seeking permission for entry, following which he approached the High Court on Thursday. Rejecting the former Dharwad MLA’s petition, Justice K Natarajan said that the judgement will detail the reasons.
The counsel representing Vinay in court had argued that he was contesting the upcoming state Assembly elections from Dharwad and needed to be in the constituency to canvas for votes. The elections are scheduled to be held in less than three weeks’ time on May 10, and Vinay's wife Shivaleela Kulkarni has been leading his campaign in his absence.
The High Court observed that it was Congress which had given him the ticket to contest from Dharwad, and the party should have known that he was forbidden by the court to enter the constituency. Congress had reportedly tried to convince Vinay Kulkarni to contest the election in Shiggaon constituency in Haveri against current Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai, but Vinay reportedly rejected this proposal.
Vinay is accused number 15 in the murder of former Zilla Panchayat member and BJP leader Yogesh Gowda, who was killed at his gym in Dharwad in June 2016. Vinay was formerly the state Minister for Mines and Geology in the Siddaramaiah-led Congress government from 2015 to 2018.