Kochi: Kerala High court on 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.
