Kerala HC calls defection an 'immoral act & antithesis to democratic form of governance'

Kerala High Court on Thursday, November 19 said that defection and disloyalty of an elected candidate was nothing but an antithesis. The court further said defection is an alien concept to the democratic form of governance apart from being an 'immoral and unprincipled act'. A petition filed by Thiruvalla Municipality Chairman Varghese KV was dismissed by a Division Bench of the Kerala High Court comprising Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly. 

In the petition, Varghese KV challenged his disqualification which prohibited him from contesting as a candidate in elections to any Local Self Government Institutions for a period of six years by the Election Commission. The petitioner failed to step down from the post of Chairman of Thiruvalla Municipality in spite of the direction issued by the District President of the Congress party under whose banner he was elected to the Municipal Council.

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"A candidate of a political party elected to any statutory institution shall always bear in mind that his political activities vis-a-vis his functions in the institution are regulated and guided by the laws of his party also, and his continuance as a member depends upon his continued unflinching loyalty to his party," the court observed.

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Elected candidates bound to the coalition formed prior to the election

The court further said, all elected candidates owing allegiance to their respective political groups are bound to subscribe to such views and translate it in the real spirit to sustain the coalition formed prior to the election. The coalition is a significant facet of democracy, required to balance the activities of those in power and to make their governance citizen-friendly adhering strictly to Constitutional values, the court added.

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(With ANI inputs)(Image-PTI)