The Karnataka High Court on Friday (July 11, 2025) gave relief to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah in a defamation case. The court has imposed an interim stay on the proceedings of the trial court in the criminal defamation case filed by the state unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
The case is related to the corruption rate card advertisement published by the Congress during the 2023 Karnataka assembly elections and allegedly “false propaganda”, in which the then Leader of Opposition Siddaramaiah, D.K. Shivkumar (being the President of KPCC) and Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was accused of tarnishing the BJP’s image.
High Court Judge Justice S.R. Krishna Kumar issued this interim order after hearing the arguments of Advocate General Shashi Kiran Shetty, appearing on behalf of the petitioner. The court issued a notice to the defendant and stayed the proceedings of the trial court.
Shetty told the court that this is the same case in which D.K. Shivkumar and Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) have got relief from the High Court on July 4. Apart from this, in January this year, the proceedings of the trial court against the Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi were also banned in this case.
The BJP’s complaint is against the corruption rate card advertisement published by the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee in local newspapers and the “false campaign” of the Congress before the 2023 assembly elections. The BJP claims that the allegations made in these advertisements were false.
The BJP termed it as imaginary and false and said that this damaged his image. Also, in advertisements, the double engine was tried to hurt the BJP’s reputation by using the word government government instead of the government and affect their possibilities in the election.
The trial court took cognizance of the case in 2023, but now Siddaramaiah has got relief from this interim order of the High Court. Meanwhile, another petition by Siddaramaiah, in which he has challenged the approval of prosecution against him in the MUDA case, will be heard in September.