Kerala HC stays EC's order declaring Jose K Mani's faction as Kerala Congress (M)

The Kerala High Court on Friday stayed the Election Commission of India's order, which declared the faction led by Jose K Mani as the official Kerala Congress (M) party allowing it to use the party's election symbol of 'Two Leaves'.

The Kerala High Court on Friday stayed the Election Commission of India's order, which declared the faction led by Jose K M as the official Kerala Congress (M) party allowing it to use the party's election symbol of 'Two Leaves'.

A single-judge bench of Justice PV Asha stayed the order for a period of one month and slated the matter for further hearing on October 1.

The High Court issued the order while hearing a petition filed by PJ Joseph, a leader of another faction of the Kerala Congress (M) party, challenging the Election Commission of India's order granting M's faction rights over the party symbol.

"Jose K M raised a claim that he was elected chairman of the party at a state committee meeting held on June 16 last year. A civil court held that the election is not, prima facie, valid. However, Jose K M approached the election commission claiming majority in the 450-member state committee," Joseph said in the plea.

"Finding that there were differences in the lists of state committee members submitted before it, the election commission created a list of 305 members who were common in both the lists and applied a majority test, which resulted in the order," it added.

It said that the civil court's decision cannot be ignored or bypassed by the election commission.

The majority test was conducted with a truncated body and was based on defective and irrelevant affidavits put in by Jose K M, the plea said.

( With inputs from ANI )