KOCHI: After elections, a couple of MLAs in the state had faced disqualification through the court’s intervention. In a majority of such cases, the Supreme Court provided reprieve to the legislators by staying the lower court verdicts. Looking back, a Kerala legislator’s first tryst with court over electoral disqualification came in 1957 when the election of Rosamma Punnoose — Communist candidate from Devikulam — was nullified by the court. However, she contested again in a bypoll and won.
Justice V R Krishna Iyer, former SC judge and minister in the first state government led by E M S Namboodiripad in 1957, was elected to the second assembly in 1960 after the Thalassery poll tribunal declared void the election of P Kunhiraman and declared Iyer the winner.
K M Mani, (R) C H Mohammed Koya
In 1977, the HC nullified the elections of C H Mohammed Koya and K M Mani, who were ministers in the first A K Antony government, after allegations of communal campaign. Later, both got favourable verdicts from SC.
Disqualification in the name of EVM
CPI’s N Sivan Pillai, elected from North Paravoor, was disqualified by the SC in 1984. He had defeated Congress’ A C Jose by a wafer-thin margin of 123 votes in the 1982 elections. For the first time, EVMs were used in 50 polling stations in the constituency. Jose challenged the election before the HC saying that The Representation of People Act, 1951, and Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, did not empower the Election Commission to use EVMs for conducting the poll and counting of votes. However, the HC refused to accept his plea. The Supreme Court reversed the HC verdict and ordered a repoll in the 50 polling stations using conventional ballot papers on an appeal from Jose. Later, Jose won the re-election held in the seat.
The case of M J Jacob
M J Jacob, who was elected from Piravom assembly constituency as an LDF candidate in the 2006 elections, could not discharge his functions as an MLA following an HC directive nullifying his election for a period of over a year. The case was filed by A Narayanan, a local Congress leader, alleging that Jacob had resorted to corrupt practices to win the election held on April 29, 2006.
The allegation against Jacob was that pamphlets circulated by Left youth organisations during the polls had amounted to character assassination of UDF leader T M Jacob, the rival candidate. However, the SC stayed the HC order. In the 2011 elections, M J Jacob lost to T M Jacob by a mere 157 votes.
Latest instance
The disqualification of Muslim League (IUML) MLA, K M Shaji by the High Court in 2018 for a period of six years, following a plea from rival candidate M V Nikesh Kumar claiming that he used religion to win the assembly poll in 2016, is the most recent one. The rival candidate alleged that Shaji, who is from the Muslim community, his agents, and other persons, had appealed to voters to vote for the UDF candidate on the basis of religion. In this case also, the Supreme Court allowed Shaji to continue as MLA.
P C George’s brush with anti-defection law
The disqualification of P C George, then a member of Kerala Congress (M), was one of the most discussed in the political history of the state. On November 13, 2015, then Speaker N Sakthan disqualified George with retrospective effect from June 3, on the basis of a petition from the Chief Whip alleging that he had engaged in anti-party activities. George was disqualified under the anti-defection law after he tendered his resignation. However, the High Court on March 14, 2016, quashed the Speaker’s order observing that it was a mala fide action.
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