Kerala High Court upholds election of UDF MLA Mani C Kappan; junks election petition

The Kerala High Court on Tuesday upheld the election victory of United Democratic Front (UDF) Member of Legislative Assembly (MLA) Mani C Kappan in the 2021 State Legislative Assembly Elections from the Pala constituency [CV John v. Mani C Kappan]..Justice C Jayachandran today dismissed a petition challenging Kappan's election. The Court found that the petitioner had failed to submit enough evidence to substantiate the allegations that Kappan had engaged in corrupt practices during the elections. .The petition challenging Kappan's election victory was filed by CV John who had contested in the election as an independent candidate from the same constituency. Kappan had stood for election as a Nationalist Congress (Kerala) candidate after parting ways with the Nationalist Congress Party months before the election. John's primary allegation was that Kappan, as well as two other candidates who had stood for election in the constituency, spent more money for their campaign than was permitted under Section 77 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951(RP Act). It was argued that this amounted to a corrupt practice as per Section 123(6) of the RP Act. John claimed that he had filed a petition before the Returning Officer and the Chief Electoral Officer of Kerala, alleging that his opponents had exceeded the stipulated monetary limit but that no action was taken on it..Kappan argued that the record of election expenses that he submitted has been accepted by the Election Commission and, therefore, all allegations to the contrary are to be rejected. .After examining several witnesses and analysing the material on record, the Court found that Kappan's election expenses was within the statutorily prescribed limits. The Court also failed to find merit in the other grounds canvassed by John and, therefore, dismissed his petition. .John was represented by advocate Sunil Cyriac. Kappan was represented by Senior Advocate T Krishnanunni, and advocates Deepu Thankan, Lakshmi Sreedhar, Ummul Fida, and Thareeq Anver K.Advocate P Fazil was appointed as Advocate Commissioner by the Court. .[Read Judgment].[Read Live Coverage]