Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Sunday sought the response of the Election Commission to pleas by two BJP candidates challenging the Returning Officers' decision rejecting their nominations for the April 6 Assembly polls.
At a special sitting, Justice N Nagaresh directed the EC to submit its counter-affidavit on Monday and posted the petitions for further hearing at 12 noon.
During the hearing on Sunday, the Election Commission, citing Constitutional provisions, opposed the pleas, contending that since the election process has set in, the intervention of the court was not warranted.
The special sitting was held on Sunday considering the urgency of the matter as the election process is well on, leading to the voting day on April 6.
The petitions were filed by N Haridas, party's Kannur district president, and Adv Nivedida Subramanian, Mahila Morcha state president, after the electoral officers in-charge of the Thalassery and Guruvayur assembly constituencies respectively rejected their papers on the ground that their papers did not have the signature of the party's state president.
In their pleas, they contended that their respective Returning Officers should have given them time to rectify the defects which were not fatal.
In her petition, Nivedita contended that the Guruvayur Returning Officer's action was "absolutely authorised and arbitrary" in rejecting the nomination solely on the ground that the intimation in Form B of the Conduct of Election rules submitted at the time of scrutiny was belated.
She submitted that the Returning Officer acted without jurisdiction in ignoring Rule-4 of the Conduct of Election Rules clearly specifying that the defects in Form A or B are not fatal to the nomination.
Seeking the intervention of the court, Nivedita claimed the action of Returning Officer was malafide and amounted to abuse of power which will stall the elections.
Senior lawyers Ramkumar and Srikumar represented the petitioners in the court.
The nomination of BJP ally AIADMK's candidate R M Dhanalakshmi was also rejected at Devikulam in Idukki district. Dhanalakshmi's Form-26 was found deficient during scrutiny.
Dhanalakshmi on Sunday announced she too will approach the court.
M K Aravindakshan, the Congress candidate in the Thalassey seat, has filed an application seeking to be a party to the case.
Thalassery, where Haridas sought to contest, is a prime seat in BJP's election plans. In Kannur district, the party had bagged the most number of votes, 22,125, here in the 2016 state polls.
The Form-A submitted by him lacked the signature of the BJP national president but had the seal. It is on this document the party's national chief authorises its state president to allocate the poll symbol to the candidate.
The poll authorities had dismissed Nivedida's nomination papers reasoning that the party-state chief's letter endorsing her as the official candidate is unsigned.
