DHANYA DEVADAS Vs. KERALA STATE ELECTION COMMISSION

JUDGEMENT

(1.) These writ petitions are connected, and therefore, I am disposing of these cases by a common judgment. When the State Election Commission declares a person disqualified for failure to lodge an account of election, whether a detailed enquiry, after hearing the parties, is necessary is the short point to be decided in this case.

(2.) The petitioners were candidates in the election conducted in the General Election to the Local Self-Government Institutions in Kerala in the year 2020. They were disqualified as per the impugned orders in these writ petitions invoking the powers under Sec. 33 of the Kerala Panchayat Raj Act, 1994 (for short, the Act 1994). The short point raised by the petitioners is that such an order is passed without affording an opportunity of hearing to the petitioners and without issuing a show-cause notice. Hence, these writ petitions.

(3.) Heard counsel for the petitioners, the Special Government Pleader and the Standing Counsel appearing for the State Election Commission.