VM Vinu and Vyshna Suresh | Photo credit: SPECIAL ARRANGEMENT
In a day of fluctuating fortunes for the Congress, the Kerala High Court on Wednesday dismissed a petition filed by the party’s Kozhikode mayoral candidate, filmmaker VM Vinu, challenging the deletion of his name from the electoral roll for local body elections.
However, the same day brought relief on another front as the State Election Commission (SEC) restored the name of Vyshna Suresh, the Congress candidate in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation’s Muttada ward, following the Supreme Court’s intervention.
Mr. Vinu claimed that he was a resident of Kozhikode for over two decades and that his name had appeared in the electoral roll for the Lok Sabha elections. When he found his name missing from the electoral roll for the upcoming local body elections, he approached the Electoral Registration Officer (ERO) in Kozhikode and informed him of the facts, only to be told that the time frame for the addition had expired.
He claimed that his name was removed on purpose because he had a good chance of winning.
The court noted that he should have raised his objection at an appropriate stage as several opportunities were provided to revise the electoral roll from July to November 4 and 5. The petitioner has himself to blame for the exclusion because he chose not to take advantage of these opportunities, the court said.
In the case of Ms. Suresh, the SEC issued orders directing the ERO to the Thiruvananthapuram Corporation to re-list Ms. Suresh’s name in Part No. 5 of the lists for the company’s Muttada division on Wednesday itself.
The decision came as a relief to the Congress, which strongly protested the election officials’ decision to remove her name, which could have disqualified her candidacy.
The commission heard Ms. Suresh on Tuesday following an order of the Kerala High Court the previous day. He said the November 15 decision of the ERO to “unilaterally remove the petitioner’s name (Vaishna SL as per the petition) was quashed because the official did not consider the documents submitted to her and did not follow the prescribed procedures.”
On the complaint filed by Dhanesh Kumar, the name of Mrs. Suresh was excluded on the ground that she was not a resident of house no. TC 18/564 in Muttada Division. However, the commission noted that this decision rested on the old house number, which the petitioner had provided by mistake.
There was no justification for removing her name on those grounds, he noted.
Ms. Suresh pointed out that her name was present in the voter list for Muttad published on September 2 and October 25.
At the hearing held on 12 November in connection with the proposed removal of her name, the complainant was not present nor did she present any document to substantiate her claim. Nevertheless, the ERO proceeded to remove it from the list.
The Commission observed that in the EPIC Card, Driving License, Aadhaar Card, Passport and Bank Passbook, the petitioner was listed as a resident of TC No. 3/564, Sudha Bhavan, PRA 65, Muttada. She just failed to update the house number, which has since been changed to 18/2365. Neither the investigator nor the hearing officer proved that she was not staying at the above address, the commission said.
Published – 19 Nov 2025 21:44 IST
