The Supreme Court on Tuesday set aside the election of Communist Party of India-Marxist MLA P Jayarajan from
the Kuthuparamba constituency.
The court held that a trial court had sentenced Jayarajan to more than two years of imprisonment in a criminal case before he filed his nomination papers.
Conviction in a criminal case inviting a sentence of two or more years disqualifies a person from contesting election under Section 8(3) of the Representation of People Act.
Jayarajan, who had defeated K Prabhakaran, contended that the trial court had convicted him for various offences in a case pertaining to a general strike in 1991 and awarded separate sentences, each of them not exceeding one year.
Disagreeing with the plea, a five-Judge Constitution Bench comprising Chief Justice R C Lahoti, Justice Shivaraj V Patil, Justice K G Balakrishnan, Justice B N Srikrishna and Justice G P Mathur said the cumulative period of a sentence in a
particular case should be taken into consideration by the returning officers at the time of accepting nominations.
Jayarajan was convicted by a trial court for leading a mob of 300 people in an attack on a post office during an all India general strike called by the Left parties in 1991.
