The Central Election Commission today has given instructions to accept United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate Jose KMani's nomination in Kottayam Lok Sabha constituency. Jose K Mani is the son of veteran Kerala Congress leader and finance minister KM Mani.
Nalini Netto, chief electoral officer of Kerala informed that there is no irregularity in the nomination filed by the UDF candidate. This is informed to the district collector of Kottayam, who is also the electoral officer of the Kottayam constituency. Based on the information and the arguments raised by the opposing candidates, the collector will take a final decision on the acceptance of the nomination today.
On Monday, Jose's rival candidates had appealed the district collector to reject his nomination since KM Mani had signed under the column of Kerala Congress chairman in form A, which is filed along with the nomination, instead of CF Thomas. Rival BJP candidate Noble Mathew raised this issue and later Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate Mathew T Thomas and AAP candidate joined. They cited that according to the website of the Election Commission, the party chairman is CF Thomas, MLA.
This created confusion in the UDF camp as there is no dummy candidate for this constituency.
The party leadership had made it clear that Mani is the chairman of the party and that valid documents regarding this were handed over to the Election Commission on February 28, 2013.In March 2012, Mani was elected as the chairman of the party and this was informed to the Election Commission.
But the commission rejected this citing some anomalies. Later, in February 2014, the party submitted fresh documents and the commission approved this. However,the opposing candidates challenged this saying that the documents were artificially prepared.
Nalini Netto, chief electoral officer of Kerala informed that there is no irregularity in the nomination filed by the UDF candidate. This is informed to the district collector of Kottayam, who is also the electoral officer of the Kottayam constituency. Based on the information and the arguments raised by the opposing candidates, the collector will take a final decision on the acceptance of the nomination today.
On Monday, Jose's rival candidates had appealed the district collector to reject his nomination since KM Mani had signed under the column of Kerala Congress chairman in form A, which is filed along with the nomination, instead of CF Thomas. Rival BJP candidate Noble Mathew raised this issue and later Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate Mathew T Thomas and AAP candidate joined. They cited that according to the website of the Election Commission, the party chairman is CF Thomas, MLA.
Also Read
But Mani has signed as the chairman of the party in the nomination paper. So the district collector, Ajithkumar, asked Jose to submit details of the chairman of the party and documents regarding the election for the post of the chairman of the party. Based on this, the collector has postponed the acceptance of the nomination.
This created confusion in the UDF camp as there is no dummy candidate for this constituency.
The party leadership had made it clear that Mani is the chairman of the party and that valid documents regarding this were handed over to the Election Commission on February 28, 2013.In March 2012, Mani was elected as the chairman of the party and this was informed to the Election Commission.
But the commission rejected this citing some anomalies. Later, in February 2014, the party submitted fresh documents and the commission approved this. However,the opposing candidates challenged this saying that the documents were artificially prepared.