Kerala Congress (M) [KC(M)] leader P.J. Joseph on Monday moved the Kerala High Court challenging the Election Commission’s order declaring the group led by Jose K. Mani as the official KC(M) and granting the faction the official election symbol of “Two Leaves”.

The Election Commission had passed the order by a 2:1 majority on a petition filed by Mr. Jose. Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and Commission member Sushil Chandra delivered the order with a dissent note of the third member, Ashok Lavasa, who had suggested further scrutiny of the documents submitted by both the factions before pronouncing a final order.

Joseph’s contention

In his petition, Mr. Joseph said that the Commission’s decision was illegal. He claimed that he was the elected working chairman of the party and had been discharging the functions and powers of the chairman in terms of the party constitution.

In fact, a civil court had already restrained Mr. Mani from officiating as chairman and from discharging functions and power of the chairman. The civil court’s order still remained in force. The Commission could not ignore the civil court order, he said.

Mr. Joseph added that the Commission had failed to take into account all the available facts and circumstances. It had exceeded its jurisdiction by ordering that the group led by Mr. Mani was entitled to use the name and the symbol under the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968. According to him, the Commission took the decision by relying on defective affidavits filed by Mr. Mani.