THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Governor Rajendra Arlekar has approved the cabinet’s proposal to appoint N Seshadrinathan as the new State Election Commissioner. The official notification was issued on Wednesday. Speaking to TNIE, Seshadrinathan expressed happiness over the appointment and said he would assume charge at the earliest.
Seshadrinathan has served as Principal District and Sessions Judge in Kavaratti, as CBI Court judge in Ernakulam, and in several other judicial positions. Following his retirement, he has been serving as a judge at the Irinjalakkuda Family Court.
The appointment came despite stiff opposition from KPCC general secretary P M Niyas and a section of Congress leaders, as well as the Youth League, the IUML’s youth wing. They had questioned Seshadrinathan’s alleged past links with the CPM and the Sangh Parivar.
Niyas had sought the intervention of Rahul Gandhi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge, KPCC president Sunny Joseph and Home Minister Ramesh Chennithala, urging them to intervene. However, as he failed to garner enough support, the cabinet went ahead with the appointment.
Seshadrinathan’s name was proposed by Local Self Government Minister K M Shaji, the Indian Union Muslim League’s representative in the cabinet. League sources said the decision had triggered differences of opinion within the party, with one section backing Shaji while another opposed the appointment.
The decision has also led to discontent within the Youth League. However, those backing Shaji maintained that the allegations against Seshadrinathan remained unsubstantiated and had surfaced only after another aspirant for the post missed out.
Meanwhile, the League’s stand has raised eyebrows among sections of the Muslim community. “We cannot dismiss suspicions of an understanding between a section of League leaders and the Sangh Parivar.
Everyone knows how the Enforcement Directorate failed to pursue the AR Nagar Cooperative Bank scam after the Income Tax raid unearthed huge quantities of unaccounted money in 2021. Had there been a proper investigation, the League might have had different ministers in this government,” a leader of a Muslim community organisation told TNIE on condition of anonymity.