Plea in HC challenges EC order declaring Mani faction as official Kerala Congress (M)

Kerala Congress (M) leader PJ Joseph on Tuesday approached the Kerala High Court challenging the Election Commission of India's order declaring the group led by Jose K Mani as the official Kerala Congress (M) party and that they are entitled to use the party's election symbol of 'Two Leaves'.

Kerala Congress (M) leader PJ Joseph on Tuesday approached the Kerala High Court challenging the Election Commission of India's order declaring the group led by Jose K M as the official Kerala Congress (M) party and that they are entitled to use the party's election symbol of 'Two Leaves'.

The petition said, "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. 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."

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, said petition.

( With inputs from ANI )