Kochi: The Kerala High Court has issued a stay on the judgement it had made disqualifying the election of Devikulam constituency's MLA A Raja. The MLA moved the High Court for a stay in order to file an appeal in the Supreme Court, and the High Court granted the same for ten days.
The stay was issued by the same division bench which had decided the disqualification.
A Raja of the CPI-M was elected in the 2021 assembly election from Devikulam constituency which was reserved for Schedule Caste candidates. His rival candidate from the opposing United Democratic Front (UDF) D Kumar raised an objection that Raja did not belong to the eligible community and that his candidature was accepted based on forged documents.
The High Court after scrutinising all relevant documents conceded Kumar's arguments and issued the disqualification order on Monday. The CPI-M who had given ticket to Raja permitted Raja to file an appeal and he filed a stay petition on Tuesday, and is expected to approach the Supreme Court with an appeal.