In a major relief to Jose K Mani, the Election Commission (EC) has in a fractured judgment held that his faction is the official Kerala Congress (M) party and is entitled to use its name and official symbol “two leaves”.
The three-member Commission pronounced its judgement on Monday with 2:1 majority in the panel. Ashok Lavasa, who vacated the office of the Election Commissioner on Monday to join the Asian Development Bank, gave a dissent order, saying that till the time fresh affidavits of support are not called in, neither of the two factions can be recognised as the Kerala Congress (M).
The order stated: “The group led by Jose K Mani is the Kerala Congress (Mani) and is entitled to use its name and its reserved symbol “Two Leaves,” for the purposes of the Election Symbols (Reservation and Allotment) Order, 1968.” “On the basis of the affidavits submitted in support of the Petitioner and the Respondent by the members of the Legislative and Organizational wing of the Party, it is clear that four out of seven members of the Legislative Wing support the faction led by the petitioner (Jose K Mani).
“On the other hand, three out of seven members of the Legislative wing support the faction led by the respondent (Joseph). In the organizational wing of the Party, that is the State Committee of the Kerala Congress (Mani), affidavits of 179 undisputed members have been submitted in support of the petitioner while affidavits of 122 undisputed members have been submitted in support of the respondent,” the order said.
Sources said that Lavasa had flagged the issue of deficiencies in the affidavits in the first week of July based on a written report by the EC's law department. He was of the view that while some members of the party have given affidavits of support to both the sides, some of the affidavits were not clear on the issue of support.
The decision came as a huge setback to rival faction PJ Joseph as he would be either forced to toe the party line or move out of the party. At the same time, the EC order is expected to create serious repercussions in the United Democratic Front (UDF) as well.
The dispute in the party had started between vice chairman Jose and working chairman Joseph following the death of party chairman K M Mani last year. The matter reached the poll panel late last year and the last hearing was held in February this year.