Special Correspondent
Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Monday declared void the election of Congress candidate Kodikkunnil Suresh from the Maveklikara Lok Sabha constituency.
Justice M. Sasidharan Nambiar declared the election void while allowing election petitions filed by defeated Communist Party of India candidate R.S. Anil and two other electors from the constituency. Mr. Suresh won the reserved seat by defeating his nearest rival by a margin of 48,048 votes. The court set aside the election as it found that Mr. Suresh did not belong to the Scheduled Castes.
The court found that while the certificate issued by the Nedumangad tahsildar had mentioned his caste as Cheramar, the Kottarakara tahsildar's certificate said that he was a member of the Pulaya caste. The court observed that the Returning Officer should not have accepted the nomination of Mr. Suresh in the light of the contradictory caste certificates.
The court found that he had not been accepted into both these Scheduled Castes.
Besides, if he belonged to the Cheramar caste, he could not at the same time be a member of the Pulaya caste. It also observed that evidence suggested that his marriage was conducted not in accordance with the customs of the Cheramars or the Pulayas. He had not been following the customs of these castes. It found that his parents were normal converted Christians. The evidence established that he was Christian until 1978 when he was reconverted to the Hindu religion through a ‘Sudhhi' ceremony.
The court found force in the arguments of the petitioner that he was re-converted to the Hindu religion when he was a minor. Therefore, his conversion was not legally valid. The court said there was force in the submission that his name was changed to Suresh after the reconversion. When a person converted to the Hindu religion, he or she could not normally become a member of the Scheduled Castes.
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