Plea in HC challenges EC order declaring Mani faction as official Kerala Congress (M)

Kochi (Kerala) [India], September 9 : Kerala Congress (M) leader PJ Joseph on Tuesday approached the Kerala High Court challenging the Election Commission of India's order declaring the group led by Jose K Mani as the official Kerala Congress (M) party and that they are entitled to use the party's election symbol of 'Two Leaves'.
The petition said, "Jose K Mani raised a claim that he was elected chairman of the party at a state committee meeting held on June 16 last year. A civil court held that the election is not, prima facie, valid. However, Jose K Mani approached the election commission claiming majority in the 450-member state committee. Finding that there were differences in the lists of state committee members submitted before it, the election commission created a list of 305 members who were common in both the lists and applied a majority test, which resulted in the order."
The civil court's decision cannot be ignored or bypassed by the election commission. The majority test was conducted with a truncated body and was based on defective and irrelevant affidavits put in by Jose K Mani, said petition.