Kerala Assembly Polls: Election of 12 MLAs challenged, Kerala High Court, MLAs, election petitions, K Surendran

Kerala Assembly Polls: Election of 12 MLAs challenged, Kerala High Court, MLAs, election petitions, K Surendran

 Petitions were filed in the Kerala High Court seeking to declare null and void the election 12 MLAs who got people’s mandate in the Assembly election as the deadline for filing election petitions ended on Saturday.

To secure their respective Assembly seats, now the MLAs will have to wait until the court issues a favourable verdict.

 Petitions were filed challenging the election of UDF MLAs

BJP candidate K Surendran who lost to Indian Union Muslim League candidate P B Abdul Razak for a margin of 89 votes filed a petition seeking to declare Razak’s election null and void.

“Declaration of the election result was materially affected by improper reception of void votes. Some of the persons whose names were included in the voters’ list were not alive on the date of polling, but their votes were cast by bogus voters.

“It is  reliably understood that those votes were cast by impersonation at the behest of the UDF candidate, and they were recorded in his favour.

“Some of the voters included in the list were not in India on the polling day, but their votes were cast. As many as 291 votes were bogus. Hence, the petitioner is entitled to be declared elected from the constituency,” submitted Surendran. LDF candidate M V Nikesh Kumar challenged the election of K M Shaji from the Azhikode constituency. Shaji had won on a margin of 2,287 votes, defeating Nikesh.

The petitioner alleged corrupt practices under various Sections of the Representation of the People Act.

“An appeal was made to voters belonging to the Muslim community by Shaji and his agents, on the ground of his religion. Pamphlets were circulated urging voters not to vote for candidates who are not believers of the Islamic faith, with the aim of tarnishing the petitioner’s reputation,” submitted Nikesh.  

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