The Supreme Court on Friday refused to accede to a plea by mining baron Gali Janardhana Reddy to allow him to campaign in Ballari district of Karnataka for his younger brother, who is a BJP candidate, for the May 12 Assembly election.
A Bench, led by Justice A.K. Sikri, cursorily rejected the request of Mr. Reddy, who is out on bail in a corruption and illegal mining case , to modify the conditions of his release. One of them is to stay out of Ballari.
“We find no merit. The petition is dismissed,” Justice Sikri, who is sitting on the Bench with Justice Ashok Bhushan, said, dismissing the petition.
Mr. Reddy wanted to campaign for two days (May 8 and 9) in Ballari for Somasekhara Reddy. “There is no need for from him to campaign in the elections,” Justice Sikri said.
Mr. Reddy also wanted permission to cast his vote in Ballari on May 12, the date of polling. The results will be declared on May 15.
Mr. Reddy was granted bail in 2015.
As part of the bail conditions, he was directed by the court not to visit his home town Ballari, besides Ananthapur and Kadapa in Andhra Pradesh.
Mr. Reddy and his brother-in-law B V Srinivas Reddy, Managing Director of Obalapuram Mining Company (OMC), were arrested by CBI on September 5, 2011 from Bellary and brought to Hyderabad.
In the OMC case, the company is accused of changing mining lease boundary markings and indulging in illegal mining in the Bellary Reserve Forest area, spread over Bellary in Karnataka and Anantapur district of Andhra Pradesh.
