The Supreme Court has granted a stay on the decision to invalidate the election in the Devikulam constituency and disqualify A Raja as MLA. The court has given a stay till July when the case will be heard again, and during this time, Raja can participate in Assembly proceedings. However, the court has also made it clear that Raja will not be allowed to vote on any bill.
A Raja, the CPM candidate, had his election annulled from the Devikulam reserved seat during the 2021 Kerala Legislative Assembly poll. The Kerala High Court found Raja ineligible for Scheduled Caste (SC) reservation as he is a Christian convert from an SC community. The HC was responding to a petition filed by the second-placed Congress candidate D Kumar, who challenged Raja’s victory by claiming that he submitted false documents to prove he belonged to a Scheduled Caste.
The High Court had ordered Raja to face trial in the case. Earlier, the Supreme Court had granted a stay on the verdict for ten days to file an appeal, but it was later dismissed due to an error in the appeal. Subsequently, a petition was again filed in the Kerala High Court requesting that the stay period be extended by another 20 days, but Justice P Somarajan rejected the petition, citing that the demand cannot be considered in a case that has been appealed in the Supreme Court.
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