The Kerala High Court dismissed a petition on Thursday (August 8) filed by K.P.M. Mustafa, the Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate in the 2021 Assembly election, against Najeeb Kanthapuram of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML), who won the Perinthalmanna seat.
The case was heard by a single bench of Justice C.S. Sudha.
Najeeb Kanthapuram won the 2021 Assembly polls by a narrow margin of just 38 votes. Mustafa had approached the high court with an election petition claiming that 348 postal votes in three ballot boxes were not counted. Mustafa argued that had those votes been included, he would have won the election.
Reacting to the court’s decision clearing his election, Kanthapuram, who is currently in the US, expressed his satisfaction with the verdict. “I am very happy, and this result is the outcome of the prayers of thousands of my voters in Perinthalmanna. I was always confident that the truth would prevail and that there was no merit in the allegations,” said Kanthapuram.
“I don’t believe there was any lapse on the part of the officials. When the margin is very slim, such doubts may arise, but I will not blame my opponent for filing the plea,” he added.
