The Communist Party of India (Marxist) is mulling over legal recourse against what they allege was a communally-loaded election campaign run by the victorious United Democratic Front candidate in the Thripunithura Assembly constituency.
K. Babu of the Congress defeated the Left Democratic Front candidate M. Swaraj by 992 votes.
The party said that there had been instances in which entry to all women in Sabarimala and Mr. Swaraj’s speech in that connection was used communally in the electioneering. Such a graffiti was reported with cVigil, a mobile app launched by the Election Commission of India for fast-track complaint reception and redress system.
Several such material evidences are said to have been collected by the party. Posters in the name of Sabarimala Karma Samithi had appeared across the constituency on the eve of the election exhorting the Hindu faithful to defeat Mr. Swaraj. Later, the Samithi officially disowned it and Mr. Swaraj alleged it to be the handiwork of Mr. Babu.
What gives confidence to the party is the favourable legal precedents when alleged electoral malpractices were questioned in the past.
Former MP, P.C. Thomas, was disqualified from contesting elections for three years from May 19, 2010, for corrupt practices during the election. He was disqualified under Sub-section (1) of Section 8A of the Representation of the People Act, 1951. The charge against him was that he used his religious background to woo voters.
More recently, the Kerala High Court in 2018 had disqualified the Indian Union Muslim League MLA, K.M. Shaji, on a plea claiming that he used religion to win the Assembly polls in 2016.
