The Kerala High Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition challenging the order of the Returning Officer accepting the nomination papers of UDF candidate Uma Thomas for the Thrikkakara byelection.
The petition was filed by C.P. Dileep Nair, an Independent candidate, challenging the order of the Returning Officer rejecting his plea not to accept the nomination papers of the UDF candidate. The petitioner pointed out that the UDF candidate had not declared her liabilities such as loans taken by her late husband P.T. Thomas in her nomination papers.
Dismissing the petition, Justice N. Nagaresh pointed out that it was a settled proposition of law that when a poll notification was published by the Election Commission, High Courts shall not exercise the jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution, if such exercise of power will hinder the free flow of election.
The court noted that improper acceptance of nomination was a ground for declaring the election of a returned candidate void, under Section 100(1)(d)(i) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 in an election petition. Once the nomination paper of a candidate was accepted, the persons aggrieved by it had only one remedy; that is to file an election petition after the poll is over.
