Kerala HC dismisses UDF's Kozhikode mayoral candidate VM Vinu’s plea over removal from voters’ list

The Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed the writ petition filed by Congress’ Kozhikode mayoral candidate and film director V M Vinu, who had challenged the omission of his name from the supplementary voters’ list released by the State Election Commission.

The court, while rejecting the plea, remarked that Vinu cannot have any preference just because he is a celebrity. "Simply because the petitioner is a celebrity, there is no preference to the petitioner. He is an ordinary citizen of this country," the court said.

Vinu, who was named the UDF candidate for the Kallai Division, first approached the electoral registration officer after finding his name missing from the voters' list for the Kozhikode Corporation election. When this was resolved, he filed an appeal before the District Collector, but to no avail. He then moved the High Court seeking to have his name included on the list before the election.

Vinu's counsel told Justice P V Kunhikrishnan today that the director's name was deleted from the voters' list due to political rivalry. But the court was reluctant to entertain the plea, pointing out that Vinu had not availed himself of the opportunities available to him at the appropriate stage. 

Noting that his name was not removed from the final list after publication, as it had been in the case of another Congress Candidate, Vyshna Suresh, the court refused to pass an order in the director's favour. 

"Simply because the petitioner is a celebrity, there is no preference to the petitioner. He is an ordinary citizen of this country. It's an admitted fact that the preparation of the electoral rolls started from July 19. A preliminary voters' list was published. There was an opportunity for the petitioner to object if his name was not there. Thereafter, the final voters' list was published on September 2, and after revision on October 25. At that time, the petitioner's name was not there. The petitioner has not objected at that stage either. Again, the Commission gave time to the citizens whose names were not mentioned in the final voters' list, and they were allowed to submit objections on November 4 and 5. The petitioner has not availed that opportunity also," the court pointed out. 

Earlier, the Election Commission also removed Vyshna Suresh's name, the youngest Congress candidate in the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation, from the supplementary list. Hearing her petition, the High Court held that neither technical issues nor political considerations should prevent a person from contesting elections and directed the Commission to grant her a second hearing.