The wins of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president and Nemom MLA Rajeev Chandrasekhar, BJP leader and Kazhakuttam MLA V. Muraleedharan, Manalur MLA C. Ravindranath, Guruvayur MLA N.K. Akbar, Kuttanad MLA Reji Cheriyan and Thrissur MLA Rajan J. Pallan in the May 2026 Assembly elections were challenged in the Kerala High Court on Friday.
Former Congress MLA K.S. Sabarinadhan, the UDF candidate in Nemom, alleged that Mr. Chandrashekhar had not disclosed his assets before the Election Commission. The petition was considered by the Single Bench of Justice A.A. Ziyadh Rahman. The Bench also considered the petition by former Kodungalloor MLA and Congress candidate from Manalur T.N. Prathapan, challenging the win of Mr. Ravindranath. The petition alleged that 207 of the 306 postal ballots were deliberately not attested, leading them to be rejected by the poll officers in Manalur.
Allegations of corrupt practice were levelled against Mr. Muraleedharan before the Single Bench of Justice Harisankar V. Menon by CPI(M) leader and former Minister for Cooperation, Tourism, and Devaswom Kadakampally Surendran in another petition.
The Bench also considered a petition by Indian Union Muslim League candidate C.H. Rasheed challenging the election of Mr. Akbar. Other candidates in the Guruvayur constituency were also added as parties to the petition.
Response sought
The Single Bench of Justice P.V. Balakrishnan sought the response of Mr. Cheriyan in the petition filed against his win in Kuttanad by Independent candidate Jaisappan Mathai. The petition alleged that the nomination papers were improperly accepted in violation of the Representation of People Act and that Mr. Cheriyan had not disclosed all pending criminal cases against him.
The election petition against Mr. Pallan was considered by the Single Bench of Justice Murali Purushothaman. BJP National Council Member and Thrissur NDA candidate Padmaja Venugopal was also a party in the petition. It was posted to August 8 as there was no representation for the petitioner, Joshi.
Published – July 31, 2026 09:07 pm IST
