Supreme Court Rejects Congress MLA K Babu's Objections To Maintainability Of Election Petition Filed By CPI(M) Leader M Swaraj

Babu had filed a plea before the High Court raising a preliminary objection that the election petition filed by Swaraj suffered from material defects due to non-compliance of the provisions of Section 81,82, 83 of the Representation of People Act, 1951 and ought to be rejected. The High Court however decided to proceed with the trial of the election main petition against Babu.

In its order dated 29th March last year, the Kerala High Court had refused to entertain the preliminary objection of Babu and decided to proceed with the election petition. It is alleged that Babu distributed slips to Hindu Voters with the picture of Lord Ayyappa with an inscription that said "your vote is for Ayyappa”.

The preliminary objection raised by Babu before the High Court was that although the election petition was presented within 45 days, the defects in the petition were cured beyond the period of 45 days. For this reason, the petition failed to comply with Section 81,82 and 83 of the RP Act and was liable to be dismissed, it was contended. It was pointed out that sufficient number of copies of the petition were not furnished and the copies were not duly attested to be true copies and the defects were cured only belatedly. The High Court however, found the defects to be trivial and decided to proceed with the petition.

For detailed reading about the judgment - Use Of Lord Ayyappa's Pictures In Voting Slips | Supreme Court Upholds Kerala HC Finding That Petition Challenging K Babu's Election Is Triable

Case Title: K. Babu V. M. Swaraj, SLP (C) No. 15320/2023