Point of Law: Section 3(1)(b) of the Act applies only if the elected person is an independent member of the coalition.

JUDGMENT :

Sri Mathew Joseph, an elected member of the Thodupuzha Municipal Council, is alleged to have defected by voluntarily giving up membership of the party under whose banner he was elected. Two petitions were filed before the Kerala State Election Commission alleging that Sri. Mathew Joseph had become disqualified due to defection by voluntarily giving up membership of the party as well as of the coalition of which he was a member. Both petitions were dismissed by the impugned order. These two writ petitions challenge the aforementioned order invoking this Court's jurisdiction under Article 226 of the Constitution of India.

2. Sri.Joseph John and Sri. Deepak, the two writ petitioners, are the elected members representing Ward No.27 and Ward No.3, respectively, while Sri. Mathew Joseph is the elected member from Ward No.11 of Thodupuzha Municipality. The elections to the Local Self Government Institutions were held in the year 2020. Sri. Deepak contested under the banner of the Indian National Congress, while Sri. Joseph John and Sri. Mathew Joseph contested under the banner of Kerala Congress (M) P.J.Joseph Group. Prior to the election, the party, Kerala Congress (M), had split into two factions -Kerala Congress (M) led by Sri. Jose K.Mani and Kerala Congress (M) P.J. Joseph Group, led by Sri. P.J. Joseph. Though disputes arose between the two factions, pursuant to an order of the Election Commission and of this Court, the Kerala Congress (M) led by Sri. Jose K.Mani was given the symbol 'two leaves' while Kerala Congress (M) led by Shri. P.J. Joseph was given the symbol 'chenda’ (drum), resulting in the former becoming known as Kerala Congress (M) (hereafter referred to as ‘KCM’ for brevity) and the latter as Kerala Congress (M) P.J.Joseph (hereafter referred to as ‘KCMPJJ’ for short). KCM was part of the Left Democratic Front, while KCMPJJ was part of the coalition of the UDF group. The coalition of UDF included the INC and KCMPJJ, while the coalition of LDF included the CPI, the CPM and KCM.

3. According to the petitioners, Sri. Mathew Joseph had contested the election as a member of the KCMPJJ with the symbol 'chenda', which was part of a coalition with the UDF. After getting elected as a member of the said party, he voluntarily gave up his membership with KCMPJJ and joined the KCM, which is a coalition group with the LDF and thereby acquired disqualification under Section 3A of the Kerala Local Authorities (Prohibition of Defection) Act, 1999 (for short, 'the Act). When Sri. Joseph John alleged in his petition that Sri. Mathew Joseph voluntarily gave up membership of KCMPJJ, Sri. Deepak alleged that Sri. Mathew Joseph voluntarily gave up membership of the coalition of UDF and thereby incurred disqualification.

4. Sri. Mathew Joseph opposed the petitions and contended that though he contested the elections of the Thodupuzha Municipality under the symbol 'chenda', in the elections of 2020, he had not given up membership of the party -Kerala Congress (M) and that he still continues as a member of KCM as a Councillor in the Thodupuzha Municipality. However, he denied knowledge of any split in the KCM or whether Sri. P.J. Joseph was declared as the Chairman of KCMPJJ or of any merger, as alleged. The respondent also denied the allegation of having joined any political party or even having any connection with the CPI (M) party.

5. Both petitions were tried together by the Election Commission. The original petitioners before the Election Commission examined PW1 to PW7 and marked Ext.A1 to A16, while the respondent examined himself as RW1. Seven documents were marked as Ext X1 to Ext X7. By the impugned order, the State Election Commission came to the conclusion that there was no cause of action to construe a situation warranting disqualification and dismissed both petitions.

6. Sri. K.C. Vincent and Sri. Manoj P. Kunjachan, the learned counsel for the petitioners, vehemently contended that the impugned order of the State Electio