The election of five UDF candidates from the State, including Rahul Gandhi from Waynand, has been challenged before the Kerala High Court.
In a slew of petitions filed on Tuesday, the election of Hibi Eden from Ernakulam, Anto Antony from Pathanamthitta, Dean Kuriakose from Idukki, and N. K. Premachandran from the Kollam Lok Sabha constituencies were challenged.
Saritha’s petition
The election of Mr. Gandhi has been challenged by Saritha S. Nair, an accused in a solar scam whose nomination papers were rejected by the Returning Officer of the Wayanad and Ernakulam Lok Sabha constituencies.
The returning officers had rejected her nomination papers on the ground that the Judicial First Class Magistrate (JFCM) Court, Perumbavoor, had convicted her in a solar scam case for three years and imposed a fine of ₹10,000.
She contested from the Amethi Lok Sabha constituency as her nomination papers were accepted by the Returning Officer of Amethi. She, therefore, sought to declare the elections of Mr. Gandhi and Mr. Eden null and void.
LDF candidate K.N. Balagopal challenged the election of Mr. Premachandran alleging that the latter had invoked the Sabarimala issue during the campaign with a view to inducing the voters.
The petition against the election of Mr. Kuriakose was filed by Romio Sebastian, a voter from Idukki. According to the him, Mr. Kuriakose had exceeded his election expenditure prescribed by the Election Commission. The petition filed by Anandagopan of Pathanamthitta, challenging the election of Mr. Antony pointed out that the UDF candidate had made religious appeals to the voters.
