Kochi: In a major setback to the Pinarayi Vijayan-led LDF government, the Kerala High Court on Tuesday quashed the government order to conduct the controversial ‘Nava Kerala Citizen Response Programme’. The ruling effectively halts the massive door-to-door survey just as the state prepares for the 2026 Assembly elections.

A Division Bench comprising Chief Justice Soumen Sen and Justice VM Shyam Kumar delivered the verdict while allowing petitions filed by KSU State President Aloysius Xavier and Perumbavoor resident MH Mubas. The court’s decision brings an abrupt end to a project that the government had touted as a “welfare study” but which critics labelled a state-funded political campaign.

The court observed that the project, which carried an estimated price tag of ₹20 crore, lacked the necessary formal financial sanctions. The court also noted that there was no specific provision in the state budget to justify such an expansive expenditure from the public exchequer. By highlighting these financial illegalities, the court reinforced the argument that the government had bypassed standard administrative protocols to launch the programme.

The timing of the survey had been a point of intense political friction. Launched in January 2026, the programme aimed to reach 80 lakh households across the state to “gather feedback” on development initiatives. However, the opposition and the KSU argued that the exercise was a thinly veiled attempt to gauge public sentiment and draft the LDF’s election manifesto using government machinery.

While the government claimed the programme relied on “social volunteers”, the petitions alleged that these were primarily CPM party workers and cadres. In court, the government had defended the programme as a “development and welfare study” intended to improve policy efficiency, but the court found the administrative foundation of the project to be legally unsustainable.

The ruling is particularly stinging for the government as it follows the Nava Kerala Sadas, another outreach program that faced similar criticism regarding the use of official resources for political projection. With the High Court now stepping in to nullify the survey, the LDF government faces a significant hurdle in its pre-election outreach strategy.