Kochi: Kerala High Court on Friday sought the view of the Election Commission on a plea by the election agent of the UDF candidate in Thripunithura K Babu seeking police protection for a free and fair conduct of election.
A division bench comprising Justice Am Shaffique and Justice K Harilal passed the order in a petition which said the election process may be disturbed due to the presence of outsiders from the district who are causing a threat to the free and fair election campaign.
The petitioner pointed out that Some posters recently appeared in the constituency contain highly defamatory and false statements which come under the corrupt practices and offence under section 127 A of the Representation of the People Act.
The posters contained a telephone number with a request to people who wanted to see Mr Babu defeated in the election to make a missed call. “However, nobody attended the call when tried to contact the number. It was registered in Karnataka in the name of 'Cricket scorer', the petition said.
The petitioner argued that CPM members are showing disregard to the democratic process in Udayamperoor area which is the stronghold of the party. They are even preventing the Congress workers from going ahead with electioneering. The petitioner also alleged that the Election Commission did not make effective arrangement to ensure that the election was a smooth and fair process.
