Kerala High Court on Monday declared the election of CPI-M candidate A Raja from Devikulam constituency in the Idukki district, to the Kerala Assembly in the 2021 election as null and void on the ground that he was not eligible to contest from the seat reserved for members of the Scheduled Caste (SC), as he is a Christian convert from an SC community.

The high court passed the order while allowing a petition filed by D Kumar, defeated Congress candidate challenging the election of Raja from the constituency.

The court set aside the election of Raja, accepting the contentions of the petitioner that Raja was not eligible to contest from the Devikulam constituency which is reserved for SC members. However, the court refused to consider Kumar’s plea requesting to declare that he won the Devikulam seat.

Kumar, who lost to A Raja for 7,848 votes, had approached the court saying that Raja did not belong to a Scheduled Caste (SC) community and is a Christian who is ineligible to contest from the constituency reserved for SC members. He submitted that the caste certificate of the Devikulam Tahsildar filed by Raja  along with his nomination papers was incorrect. The petitioner contended that Raja is not a member of the scheduled caste community.

He contended that Raja was born to Christian parents belonging to the Church of South India (CSI) and was baptised. Raja married a Christian woman and the family follows the Christian faith, frequently attending services at the church. Hence, he was not eligible to contest from the SC seat.

Kumar further argued that those who belonged to the scheduled caste (SC) in Kerala among Hindus alone will get the status of scheduled caste within the state of Kerala to contest in a constituency reserved for scheduled castes.

Raja, however, submitted that the caste certificate had been issued by the Tahsildar after complying with all legal formalities. Therefore, the acceptance of his nomination papers by the Returning officer was perfectly legal and proper. He denied the allegation that he was baptised at the CSI church.

The CPI-M on Monday said Raja will approach the Supreme Court against the High Court verdict cancelling his elections from Devikulam constituency to the Kerala Assembly.