Kochi: Kerala High Court Monday set aside
the election of Congress MP and AICC Secretary, Kodukunnil
Suresh from the Mavelikara Reserved Parliamentary
constituency.
The order in this regard was issued by Justice G
Shashidharan Nambiar in a 160 page judgement while allowing
the election petition of defeated candidate R S Anil of the
CPI challenging Suresh`s election and two others.
The court found that there were conflicting statements
made by Kodikunnil Suresh about his caste status. As per
school records, he is a converted Christian and was not
entitled for the benefit of being a scheduled caste member.
His nomination should have been rejected by the returning
officer on the ground that he is not a member of scheduled
caste and hence was not entitled to contest from a
constituency reserved for schedule caste candidate, the court
held.
This was his fifth time he was elected to the lower house of
Parliament. Suresh was first elected to Lok Sabha in 1989,
then in 1991, 1996 and 1999 from the Adoor constituency. He
was defeated in 1998 and 2004 elections.
PTI
