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2024 Supreme(Online)(KER) 27136
IN THE HIGH COURT OF KERALA AT ERNAKULAM PRESENT THE HONOURABLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE MR. A.J.DESAI &
THE HONOURABLE MR.JUSTICE V.G.ARUN FRIDAY, THE 2ND DAY OF FEBRUARY 2024 / 13TH MAGHA, 1945 WA NO. 51 OF 2024 AGAINST THE JUDGMENT WP(C) 22501/2023 OF HIGH COURT OF KERALA APPELLANT/S:
SUNIL SRADHEYAM AGED 51 YEARS S/O GANGADHARAN, SRADHEYAM, KUTTAMPEROOR P.O, MANNAR P.O ALAPPUZHA, PIN - 689623 BY ADVS.
M.SASINDRAN JOGGY MATHUNNI MRINAL CHAND M.
RESPONDENT/S:
1 SUJITH SREERENGUM AGED 45 YEARS S/O P.K KRISHNA PILLAI, SREERENGUM, KURATTIKKADU, MANNAR P.O ALAPPUZHA, PIN - 689622
2 THE KERALA STATE ELECTION COMMISSION VIKAS BHAVAN, THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, PIN - 695033 BY ADVS. S. SREEKUMAR (SR.)
ARUN B. VARGHESE DEEPU LAL MOHAN THIS WRIT APPEAL HAVING COME UP FOR ADMISSION ON
02.02.2024, THE COURT ON THE SAME DAY DELIVERED THE FOLLOWING:
Voting contrary to party interests can infer voluntary abandonment of membership, leading to disqualification under defection laws, even without formal resignation.
Headnote:(A) Kerala Local Authorities (Prohibition of Defection) Act, 1999 - Sections 3 and 4(1) - Disqualification of a member of the Grama Panchayat for voluntarily giving up membership of political party - Appellant voted against the party's candidate and was nominated by opposition party for Vice President - Learned Single Judge held appellant disqualified, finding conduct tantamount to voluntarily giving up membership. (Paras 1-7, 18)
(B) Voluntary resignation not required for disqualification - Conduct can infer voluntary membership abandonment; even without a formal resignation, acting against party interest may lead to disqualification. (Paras 16-18)
Facts of the case:
Appellant elected as candidate for the political party INC in Grama Panchayat, later voted for LDF candidate, participated in Vice President election with LDF support. Disqualification petition initiated against appellant for violation of the defection law.
Findings of Court:
The appellant's actions indicated voluntary abandonment of party membership leading to disqualification under the Act.
Issues: Whether appellant's voting behavior constituted voluntary abandonment of political party membership.
Ratio Decidendi: Court ruled conduct against party interest is grounds for disqualification; voting support to opposing party indicates voluntary membership abandonment beyond formal resignation.
Result: Appeal dismissed.
JUDGMENT
A. J. Desai, C. J.
The challenge in this appeal filed under Section 5 of the Kerala High Court Act, 1958 is the judgment dated 21.11.2023 in W. P. (C) No. 22501 of 2023 passed by the learned Single Judge declaring the present appellant disqualified to continue as a member of the Mannar Grama Panchayat, treating his conduct as voluntarily giving up the membership of a political party from which he had contested the election and to continue as the Vice President of the Panchayat.
2. Short facts that arise from the record are as under:-
The election of the Grama Panchayat was held in December 2020 wherein the appellant filed his nomination as official candidate from the political party Indian National Congress (INC). Thereafter, he was elected from ward No. 11. Altogether, there are 18 wards in the Panchayat, out of which 9 seats were won by the United Democratic Front (UDF) (8 members belonging to INC and 1 member belonging to the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML)), 8 seats were won by LDF (7 seats for the Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI(M)) and 1 seat for the Kerala Congress (M)) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) got one seat. Election to the post of President of the said Grama Panchayat was held in a scheduled meeting on 30.12.2020. One person from UDF and one person from LDF contested the election. The meeting was attended by all 18 members which reflects from the minutes recorded by the Returning Officer in Ext. P7. The appellant, who won the election from INC which is a part of UDF, voted in favour of a candidate who contested the election for the post of President from the opposition party, i.e. LDF, and therefore, LDF candidate won the election for the post of President.
3. On that day itself, election to the post of Vice President was held where also all 18 members remained present which reflects from the minutes recorded by the Returning Officer in Ext. P8. One candidate from UDF, namely Ms. Shyna Navas, contested whereas no one from LDF or BJP contested to the post of Vice President. But the present appellant contested the election to the post of Vice President. Pertinently, the appellant’s name was nominated and serenaded by LDF members. In the election, all the 8 LDF members voted in favour of the present appellant, who was originally from INC. On the support of the opposition and without getting a single vote from his coalition, i.e. UDF, the appellant secured 9 votes and was elected as Vice President of the Grama Panchayat.
4. In view of the above development, O. P. No. 1 of 2021 was filed before the State Election Commission to declare the present appellant as disqualified under the provisions of Sections 3 and 4(1) of the Kerala Local Authorities (Prohibition of Defection) Act, 1999 (hereinafter referred as ‘the Act’). By order dated 02.08.2022, the said petition was dismissed by the State Election Commission. Challenging the said order, W. P. (C) No. 27667 of 2022 was filed by the present private respondent. The learned Single Judge, by judgment dated 02.05.2023, disposed of the writ petition holding that, in the absence of any whip or direction issued by the concerned political party, it cannot be said that the appellant had acted against the whip or direction issued by the political party under whose banner he had contested the election and remanded the case to the State Election Commission to consider whether the appellant’s conduct amounted to voluntarily giving up the membership of his political party, since the said aspect was not examined by the State Election Commission. The State Election Commission re-examined the case and by order dated 15.06.2023 again dismissed O. P. No. 1 of 2021. The said decision came to be challenged in the captioned writ petition. The respondent as well as the State Election Commission appeared through their Advocates and contested the same.
5. The learned Single Judge, after considering the facts and circumstances of the case and the principles laid down by va
