People's Democracy

Kerala High Court Rejects Election Petition

Aboo Backer

THE Kerala High Court has rejected the election petition filed by the Congress candidate who contested against the CPI(M) leader P.Jayarajan in the Koothuparamba constituency in the last Assembly elections.

Justice S.Hariharan Nair rejected the plea with expenses. P.Jayarajan was elected with a margin of 18,620 votes from the constituency.

Koothuparamba Magistrate had convicted P. Jayarajan in a case for two years and five months imprisonment. The plaintiff had argued that since Jayarajan was punished in a criminal case, his case had equivalence with the position of Jayalalitha in Tamilnadu. The court rejected this argument and maintained that the case of P.Jayarajan does not come in purview of Section 8(3) of the People’s Representation Act.

The District Court of Tellicherry has ruled in the appeal filed by P. Jayarajan that the imprisonment should be commuted to one consolidated year. Jayarajan has submitted a revision petition to the High Court and the petition is before the court for its due consideration.

The case is especially important in the background of the fact that the RSS-BJP forces had joined hands with the Congress to defeat P.Jayarajan in the election. There was also an attempt to physically annihilate Jayarajan during the last Loksabha elections. He was then secretary of the LDF Badagara parliamentary constituency, which is represented by A.K.Premajam.

The RSS hooligans perpetrated the assault in which Jayarajan’s right hand was cut away by the assailants and he survived the attack as the assailants left him thinking he was already dead. The hand was stitched by the skilful surgery by the doctors of Medical Trust, Ernakulam.

P. Jayarajan is currently member of the CPI(M) state committee.