The NDA-BJP in Kerala would be forced to defend its case against any charge of shift of votes to the winning candidate in the three Assembly seats of Thalassery, Guruvayur and Devikulam where its nominations were rejected by the respective returning officers on grounds of ‘defective submissions’.
In a setback to the BJP and the NDA front, the High Court of Kerala on Monday dismissed the petitions of all three candidates challenging rejection of their nominations. K Surendran, President of BJP Keralam, has said that the party would move available higher forums seeking justice for its candidates.
High Court decision
The High Court’s decision came after the Election Commission submitted an affidavit that the decision of the returning officer was final, and the court could not intervene once the notification for the election process is in set in motion. A single bench had dismissed the petitions filed by BJP candidates N Haridas (Thalassery) and Nivedita Subramaniam (Guruvayur) and AIADMK candidate Dhanalakshmi (Devikulam).
The candidates had moved the High Court on Sunday, a day after the rejection of their nominations. The Election Commission said in its affidavit that there cannot be judicial intervention in matters related to election after the notification of elections as per Article 329 B of the Constitution.
The signature of the party president was a mandatory requirement under the Rules and its absence is a substantive defect. Such disputes can only be resolved as per statutory remedies after culmination of election. Meanwhile in Devikulam, the BJP-NDA could likely lend its support to a Congress rebel while in Thalassery and Guruvayur, it risks a major loss of face with none to ‘represent’ its electoral case.
All three constituencies are sitting seats of the outgoing CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front (LDF) and rejection of nominations will give another chance for both the LDF and the Opposition Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) to accuse each other of an ‘understanding’ with the BJP-NDA.
A related slugfest between the rival fronts with the BJP-NDA in the centre has been attracting headlines ever since top RSS ideologue R Balashankar raised the charge against the BJP state leadership of being cahoots with the LDF to deny him the Chengannur seat in a ‘quid pro quo’ deal.
Balashankar had alleged that ‘deal’ involved securing the seats of Aranmula and Chengannur for the LDF in return of ‘seeing through’ K Surendran, president of BJP Keralam, in Konni, a seat he is contesting other than Manjeswar. A livid Surendran had retorted that Balashankar's comments do not deserve a reply.