Kerala HC rejects plea seeking to extend stay on cancellation of Devikulam assembly election result

Kochi: The Kerala High Court has rejected the plea filed by A Raja, former MLA of CPM, seeking to extend the stay of the order cancelling the result of the assembly election.The High Court granted a stay of ten days.The decision of the High Court was taken into consideration by the appeal which was filed by Raja in the Supreme Court.On March 20, Kerala High Court had cancelled the result of the assembly election held at Devikulam constituency in the Idukki district, noting that the MLA, A Raja does not qualify to contest from the constituency.

The court’s ruling came on a plea submitted by the United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate of the constituency, D Kumar, demanding the cancellation of the election result of Left Democratic Front (LDF) MLA A Raja.Kumar had alleged that Raja belongs to the Christian community and does not qualify to contest for a seat reserved for the Schedule Caste.

The elections in the constituency of Devikulam were held in 2021, and CPM leader A Raja won by a margin of over 7,000 votes.Devikulam happens to be a seat reserved for the candidates belonging to the Scheduled Caste community.