KOTTAYAM: In a major relief and achievement for Jose K Mani, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has declared his faction as the official Kerala Congress (M) party and is entitled to use “two leaves” official election symbol.
The Commission passed the order on Monday settling down the petitions submitted by Jose and his rival faction led by P J Joseph claiming title and symbol of the KC (M).
The decision came as a huge setback to Joseph as he would be either forced to toe the party line or move out of the party.
At the same time, the ECI order is expected to create serious repercussions in the United Democratic Front (UDF) as well.
The three-member Commission pronounced its judgement on Monday with 2:1 majority in the panel.
Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora and Commission member Sushil Chandra passed the order with a dissent note of the third member in the Commission Ashok Lavasa, who suggested a further scrutiny of the documents submitted both factions before pronouncing a final order.
The order stated: “The group led by Jose K Mani is the Kerala Congress (Mani) and is entitled to use its name and its reserved symbol “Two Leaves,” for the purposes of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.”
With this, the dispute between party vice chairman Jose and working chairman Joseph, which had arisen in the KC (M) following the demise of party chairman K M Mani on April 9, 2019 has come to an end.
At the same time, Joseph said he would move an appeal against the ECI order.
Responding to the judgement, Jose said that the truth has won finally.
“The ECI’s order is a setback to the political conspiracy hatched by certain people to hijack K M Mani’s party and his politics after his demise,” he said.
The ECI arrived at a conclusion after considering the majority of supporters among the legislators and in the organisational committees of the KC (M).
“On the basis of the affidavits submitted in support of the Petitioner and the Respondent by the members of the Legislative and Organizational wing of the Party, it is clear that four out of seven members of the Legislative Wing support the faction led by the petitioner (Jose K Mani).
"On the other hand, three out of seven members of the Legislative wing support the faction led by the respondent (Joseph). In the organizational wing of the Party, that is the State Committee of the Kerala Congress (Mani), affidavits of 179 undisputed members have been submitted in support of the petitioner while affidavits of 122 undisputed members have been submitted in support of the respondent,” the Commission observed.