Special court dismisses complaint against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah over Lingayat CM comment

A private defamation complaint against Karnataka Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on his comment about a Lingayat chief minister during the recent Assembly election has been dismissed by an Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Court.

The Special Court exclusively dealt with criminal cases related to elected former and sitting MPs/MLAs on Tuesday dismissed the complaint filed for the alleged offenses under Sections 499 (defamation) and 500 (punishment for defamation) of the Indian Penal Code.

The private complaint lodged by Shankar Shet and Mallaiah Hiremath alleged that Siddaramaiah had defamed the Lingayat community with his answer to a question by a journalist during the Assembly election. The Congress leader was asked if his party would make Lingayat the Chief Minister if it came to power.


Siddaramaiah allegedly replied that then-incumbent CM Basavaraj Bommai was a Lingayat who had indulged in corruption and spoilt the state.

Congress won the recent assembly elections in Karnataka with 135 seats out of 224, data from the Election Commission said. BJP who lost to Congress was able to get 66 seats.

After winning the elections, the new CM was chosen after four days of tense deliberations within the party. The party had to choose between Siddaramaih, former CM of Karnataka, and DK Shivkumar, KPCC president. In the end, Siddaramaiah was chosen as the new CM while Shivkumar was chosen as the Deputy CM.

Leaders of opposition were invited by the winning party to the ceremony such as Bihar’s CM Nitish Kumar and deputy CM Tejashwi Yadav of Janata Dal, Tamil Nadu’s CM M.K. Stalin of DMK, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, former J&K CM Mehbooba Mufti of the PDP, and National Conference leader Farooq Abdullah.

(With inputs from PTI)