Congress leader Kodikunnil Suresh has said that he will approach the Supreme Court against Monday's Kerala High Court verdict declaring his election to the Lok Sabha from the Mavelikara constituency void.
Addressing a press conference here immediately after the Kerala High Court stayed the verdict for three weeks on Wednesday, Mr. Suresh said he would hold discussion with the Congress leadership before moving the apex court. Reiterating his charge that certain persons in the party were part of a conspiracy to unsettle him, he said the Congress would not prefer losing a seat in Parliament at a time when the party by its own did not enjoy a simple majority in the House.
Justice M. Sasidharan Nambiar had declared his election to the Lok Sabha void while allowing election petitions filed by his nearest rival, R.S. Anil of the Communist Party of India, and two other electors from the constituency. The court had found that while a certificate issued by the Nedumangad tahsildar had mentioned his caste as Cheramar, the Kottarakara tahsildar's certificate said he was a member of the Pulaya caste.
Stating that the court had not given due importance to the caste certificate that he had submitted before it as proof of his Scheduled Caste status, Mr. Suresh recalled that the Supreme Court had observed in cases involving Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati and others that successive victories of a candidate from a constituency reserved for backward communities pointed towards his or her influence and acceptance among the community. Mr. Suresh alleged that the court had not taken such observations of the apex court into consideration.
Mr. Suresh said he would bring to the notice of Congress president Sonia Gandhi the fact that a section of Congress workers who nurtured ambitions of becoming MPs and MLAs had hatched a plot against him. Mr. Suresh said he had already submitted petitions before the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) that these persons were acting against him. Asked whether the KPCC leadership had failed to initiate timely action on his complaint, Mr. Suresh said the KPCC had its own process for addressing such issues.
Reacting to the allegation that his SSLC certificate had mentioned his religion as Christian, Mr. Suresh said it was a mistake and he had corrected it later by issuing a notification in the gazette. He said the Returning Officer of the Mavelikara Lok Sabha constituency had accepted his nomination after accepting the caste certificate issued by the authorities concerned.
