Congress candidate\'s election declared void by High Court

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday declared void the election of Congress candidate Kodikkunnil Suresh from the Maveklikara Lok Sabha constituency.

Justice M. Sasidharan Nambiar declared the election void while allowing election petitions filed by defeated Communist Party of India candidate R.S. Anil and two other electors from the constituency. Mr. Suresh won the reserved seat by defeating his nearest rival by a margin of 48,048 votes. The court set aside the election as it found that Mr. Suresh did not belong to the Scheduled Castes.

The court found that while the certificate issued by the Nedumangad tahsildar had mentioned his caste as Cheramar, the Kottarakara tahsildars certificate said that he was a member of the Pulaya caste. The court observed that the Returning Officer should not have accepted the nomination of Mr. Suresh in the light of the contradictory caste certificates.

The court found that he had not been accepted into both these Scheduled Castes.