A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court on Wednesday ruled against printing of names of contesting candidates in different colours on the ballot paper in cooperative society elections indicating the political parties to which they belonged.
The Bench comprising Justice V. Chitambaresh and R. Narayana Pisharadi passed the ruling while setting aside a single judge’s order passed in connection with the election of the Akathethara Service Cooperative Bank, Palakkad.
The judge had allowed printing of names of the contesting candidates on the ballot paper in different colour shades.
The single judge had observed that allotment of colours to the candidates or their panel would help the voter (many of whom are allegedly illiterate) to make a correct choice.
Allowing an appeal filed by the government against the order, the Bench pointed out that “any ornamentation of the ballot paper” by incorporation of a symbol or colour for the contesting candidate was not contemplated either in the Kerala Cooperative Societies Act or the Rules. The court said giving different colour shades to the candidates or to a particular panel of contesting candidates was “an anathema to the scheme of the election process.”
