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Ernakulam: In a major setback for the Congress in Kozhikode municipality polls, Kerala high court outrightly dismissed the writ petition filed by Congress’ Kozhikode mayoral candidate and film director V M Vinu, who had challenged the omission of his name from the supplementary voters’ list released by the State Election Commission.
The decision by the court will put the Congress party under pressure as they will have to find an alternate candidate for Mayoral post in Kozhikode corporation.
“This is not a setback for the party in any ways. We will find a suitable replacement for VM Vinu”, said senior Congress leader MK Raghavan.
The court, while rejecting the plea, remarked that “there is nothing in this,” according to Bar & Bench.
Kozhikode DCC president K Praveenkumar earlier criticised the removal, saying Vinu was born and brought up in Kozhikode and is a well-known figure in the city. “How can his name be missing from the voters’ list? This is unimaginable. From the BLOs to the State Election Commissioner, everyone should be held responsible,” he said.
He also claimed that Vinu’s wife had been removed from the list as well. “This cannot be a mere oversight—it points to a larger conspiracy. We are worried about how many others have been excluded. This is a case of ‘vote chori’. The situation in Kerala is worse than in Bihar or Haryana,” Praveenkumar said.
Earlier, the Election Commission also removed Vyshna Suresh's name, the youngest Congress candidate in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, from the supplementary list. Hearing her petition, the High Court held that neither technical issues nor political considerations should prevent a person from contesting elections and directed the Commission to grant her a second hearing.
CEO Kelkar confirms stringent action against those obstructing BLOs
Chief Electoral Officer Rathan U Kelkar stated that stringent legal action will be taken against those who obstructed the work of Booth Level Officers (BLOs) in Malappuram and Idukki districts.
“BLOs are constitutionally nominated officers working for the Election Commission. We have asked the district collectors to initiate strict criminal action against whoever obstructs this work, as per Section 121 of the BNS,” the CEO said at a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram.
