The Supreme Court of Kentucky today affirmed its earlier decision stating that the Court of Appeals was correct in ruling Nima Kulkarni ineligible for the Democratic primary for District 40 of the Kentucky House. No Republicans had filed for that seat, and as a result of Kulkarni being disqualified, the other Democrat on the ballot, William Zeitz, won the primary and was on his way to be a legislator.
However, at the end of today’s ruling (which you can read below), the Court seems to say that the result of this ruling is that the entire primary is invalid.
Subsequently, Secretary of State Michael Adams released the following statement:
“Today, in Kulkarni v. Horlander, the Supreme Court of Kentucky stated, ‘the effect of the disqualification of a candidate subsequent to the election is that no election has occurred and the true and legitimate will of the people has not yet been expressed.’ I take this as a directive to me to certify that a vacancy exists in the nomination for state representative in the 40th District. I intend to permit the Democratic and Republican Parties to nominate candidates for this office, and give the people a choice.”
It appears that Kulkarni will be given a second chance to file correctly, and that Zeitz is back to being the underdog in the primary for this heavily Democratic district. In addition, Republicans can decide if they now want to run someone for this seat.
We will share more details as we learn them.
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