Legal battle on the cards over Pillai's nomination

By Girish Menon

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, APRIL 22. A major legal battle is on the cards over the nomination papers of the Kerala Congress(B) leader, Mr. R. Balakrishna Pillai, who is contesting the Kottarakkara Assembly seat.

The wrangle is over Mr. Pillai's eligibility to contest the Assembly election on account of his conviction in the Graphite case. While legal opinion is divided on the issue, the focus would be on the returning officer (RO) for the Kottarakkara constituency. The onus is on the RO to take a final decision on nomination papers, according to Election Commission sources.

The LDF has launched a no-holds-barred campaign against Mr. Pillai and his eligibility as a candidate. And the campaign has been directed as a hit below the belt, mainly as an attempt to counter the latent `sympathy wave' Mr. Pillai has succeeded in creating in his favour after returning home from a few days imprisonment in jail.

The LDF is sure to exercise all kinds of legal options before it, including raising a number of objections when the nomination papers are taken up for scrutiny. The ruling coalition hopes to gain a psychological advantage if it succeeds in getting the nomination rejected. While legal focus is apparently on whether Mr. Pillai's one-year conviction has rendered him ineligible for a contest, the LDF is examining whether Mr. Pillai's candidature could be challenged under another case, the Edamalayar case, in which Mr Pillai had been convicted for a five-year jail term.

Mr. Pillai was convicted in May 1996 a few days after the Assembly elections that year. The case is still caught in legal tangles, but the LDF campaign managers feel that they do have arguments to build a case in their favour. A lot of spadework is being done to nail down Mr. Pillai when the nominations are taken up for scrutiny. This would include citing the Supreme Court judgments and the various other judgments of three High Courts.

Mr. Pillai is however not much worried over his candidature asserting that he was not disqualified from a contest. He is inclined to take protection of Section 8(4) of the Representation of People Act, which gives him immunity as a sitting MLA. But he would have to bring out strong arguments to rebut the view that Section 8(4) of the RP Act was a cover only for an MLA and not for a candidate contesting the election. Now that the Assembly's term has expired, Mr. Pillai cannot claim any immunity, it is pointed out.

It is also pointed out that the High Court, which considered Mr. Pillai's appeal petition, had only suspended the sentence and not his conviction. The LDF hopes that if Mr. Pillai's nomination papers were to be rejected it would have an impact in the neighbouring constituencies, including Pathanapuram, where Mr. Pillai's son, Mr. Ganesh Kumar, is taking on two-time winner and sitting MLA, Mr. Prakash Babu of the CPI.

Ever since Mr. Pillai's conviction, the LDF, particularly the CPI(M) has been working out a strategy to beat back the UDF election campaign, which has been focusing on the corruption during the LDF rule. However, the LDF has found it difficult to counter the corruption charges against it because of the CPI(M)'s alliance with the AIADMK in Tamil Nadu.

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Section  : State Elections
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