Mother and Pope posters dethrone Kerala MP

Thiruvananthapuram: Former junior Union law minister P.C. Thomas, who had sought to influence voters by flaunting his pictures with Pope John Paul II and Mother Teresa, has been unseated from Parliament.

Justice C.N. Ramachandran Nair of Kerala High Court today declared Thomas’s chief rival P.M. Ismail of the CPM the winner from the Moovattupuzha constituency in the May 2004 polls.

But he granted the ousted Kerala Congress (J) leader a month’s time to appeal. Till the appeal is disposed of, Thomas stays suspended from the Lok Sabha and Ismail cannot claim his seat.

The judge upheld the contention that Thomas had extensively misused a religious symbol distributing calendars and wall posters carrying his pictures with the late Pope and Mother Teresa in the predominantly Christian constituency in the run-up to the elections.

Thomas, who happened to be celebrating his 56th birthday today, said the judge had upheld only two of the six contentions raised by Ismail.

"But I’m sure the judgment is erroneous and will file an appeal within the stipulated time."

Ismail said the verdict "has thrown light on the dos and don’ts of elections. This is a victory of the people."

Thomas had retained the seat in a triangular contest, fashioning his sixth consecutive election to the Lok Sabha.

The court also found merit in the contentions that Thomas had used private vehicles to take voters to booths in the Poonjar and Thekkekara wards, and that All Kerala Catholic Congress chief John Kachiramattom had appealed to voters to back him.

Thomas had used two pictures, one with Pope John Paul II and the other showing him with both the Pope and Mother Teresa.

Kerala Congress (M)’s Jose K. Mani, who had come a poor third losing by about 55,000 votes, had filed a petition with the Election Commission against Thomas’s use of the pictures but the commission did not intervene.

Thomas’s poll victory had been a morale booster for the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance, to which his then party the Indian Federal Democratic Party belonged. The victory was seen as a sign of Christians gravitating towards the once untouchable BJP.

But Thomas soon dissolved his ramshackle IFDP and returned to Kerala Congress (J).

KC (J) is a junior partner in the ruling LDF and Thomas, despite his brief dalliance with the BJP, had found a seat at the high table of the Left alliance’s state committee in Kerala.

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