The political crisis in Karnataka reached the Supreme Court on Tuesday, where the judges were examining what they described as “weighty” constitutional questions about the resignation and disqualification of rebel MLAs from the ruling Congress-JD(S) coalition.

The hearing

The court, which took up the petition of 10 rebel MLAs on July 12, agreed to also hear further legislators who are seeking the same relief: a direction to Karnataka Assembly Speaker KR Ramesh Kumar to accept their resignations.

These MLAs mentioned their application on Monday before a two-judge bench, Justice Deepak Gupta and Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi, asking to be added as parties to the pending case. In that case the court had ordered that the Speaker should take no decision on either the resignations or the disqualification petitions until Tuesday.

What happened next

The Congress-JD(S) government led by HD Kumaraswamy, which had taken office on 23 May 2018 with Congress support, fell in July 2019, and BS Yeddyurappa returned as Chief Minister.

See also: Janata Dal (Secular) | State assembly members

Originally published on 16 July 2019. Rewritten on 9 October 2026.

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