HC declares void election of a devikulam MLA

Subject : Polity

Concept :

The Kerala High Court on Monday declared void the election of A Raja of the LDF from Devikulam, a reserved assembly constituency in the Idukki district.
Justice P Somarajan observed that Raja is not a member of ‘Hindu Parayan’ within the state of Kerala and is not qualified to be chosen to fill a seat in the assembly reserved for Scheduled Caste.
Hence, the election of Raja from the Devikulam is declared void, the court said.

Election Petition

An Election petition is a means under law to challenge the election of a candidate in a Parliamentary or Assembly election.
Election petitions are filed in the High Court of the particular state in which the election was conducted.
Therefore, only the High Courts have the original jurisdiction on deciding on election petitions.
An election petition can be filed by any candidate, or an elector relating to the election personally, to the authorized officer of the High Court.
An elector is a person who was entitled to vote at the election to which the election petition relates, whether he/she has voted at such election or not.
An election petition calling in question an election shall be filed within the time period of forty-five days from the date of declaration of results.
A petitioner may, in addition to claiming that the election of a particular candidate is void, can also claim that he/she himself/herself has been duly elected.
Under the Representation of People Act, 1951, an election petition will have to be filed after the results were declared.
The right to contest in an election is “not a civil right but a creature of statute.”

Grounds for filing an election petition or declaring an election void

The election of a particular candidate can be declared void under section 100 of the Representation of People Act, 1951, if the High Court is of the opinion that –

that on the date of the election a returned candidate (a candidate who has been declared elected) was not qualified; or
that some corrupt practice was committed by a returned candidate or his election agent; or
that any nomination was improperly rejected; or
that the result was materially affected.

The Representation of Peoples Act recommends the High Court to conclude a trial for an election petition within six months from the date on which the election petition is presented to the High Court for trial.
Any election petition may be withdrawn only by leave of the High Court.
Appeal
An appeal shall lie to the Supreme Court on any question (whether of law and fact) from every order made by a High Court within a period of thirty days from the date of the order of the High Court.
Supreme Court may entertain an appeal after the expiry of the said period of thirty days if it is satisfied that the appellant had sufficient cause for not preferring the appeal within such period.