MINI SAVIO Vs. SABU JOSEPH

JUDGEMENT

(1.) The 3rd respondent in W.P.(C)No.19905 of 2023 filed this writ appeal under Sec. 5(i) of the Kerala High Court Act, 1958, challenging the judgment dtd. 21/10/2025 passed by the learned Single Judge in that writ petition.

(2.) The 1st respondent-writ petitioner filed W.P.(C)No.19905 of 2023 under Article 226 of the Constitution of India, seeking the following reliefs:

(3.) Going by the averments in the writ petition, the 1st respondent is an agriculturist actively involved in social activities and was a member of Thidanadu Grama Panchayath in Meenachil Taluk of Kottayam District. He was elected, pursuant to the election conducted to the local bodies in November 2015 from Ward No.4 of Thidanadu Grama Panchayath as a candidate of the political party Kerala Congress (Mani), which had coalition with United Democratic Front ('UDF' for short). After the election, the appellant was elected as the President of the Grama Panchayath. A no-confidence motion was moved against the appellant on 15/5/2018. The motion was signed by 6 out of 14 members of the Grama Panchayath. The no-confidence motion was taken up for discussion, and 8 members who were present in the meeting voted in favour, and the appellant was removed from the post of President of Grama panchayath as seen from Ext.P1 minutes of the meeting dtd. 15/5/2018. Alleging that the 1st respondent and another member violated the whip issued by district-level leaders of respective political parties, the appellant approached the 3rd respondent, Kerala State Election Commission ('Election Commission' for short), by filing Ext.P2 - O.P. No. 53 of 2018 against the 1st respondent and O.P.No.54 of 2018 against the other member. In the O.P., the 1st respondent entered appearance and filed Ext.P3 objections, disputing the contentions and specifically stating that there was no whip issued as contended.