Kerala HC dismisses election petition against IUML legislator

Kochi, Aug 8 (IANS) The Kerala High Court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed by K.P.M. Mustafa, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate in the 2021 Assembly election, against Najeeb Kanthapuram of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), who won the Perinthalmanna seat.

Kanthapuram won the 2021 Assembly polls by a slender margin of just 38 votes and Mustafa had approached the high court with an election petition claiming that 348 postal votes in three ballot boxes were not counted.

Mustafa had contended that had those votes been counted he would have won the election.

Reacting to the court clearing his election, Kanthapuram, presently in the US on a trip, said he is happy with the verdict.

“I am very happy and this is the result of the prayers of thousands of my voters in Perinthalmanna. I was always sure that the truth will triumph and I was always confident that there was no merit in the allegations,” said Kanthapuram.

“At this time I would like to give my special thanks to the huge support I received from the party leadership. I have always been at the forefront and engaged in my work. This will give me more impetus to work for the people in my constituency,” added Kanthapuram.

“I don’t think there was any lapse on the part of the officials. It's natural that when the margin is very slender, such thoughts might come and I will not blame my opponent candidate who filed the plea,” said Kanthapuram.