Kerala HC seeks Suresh Gopi’s response in petition to quash Thrissur LS poll result

Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Wednesday issued a notice to Union Minister and actor Suresh Gopi, in response to a petition challenging his election from Thrissur in the recent Lok Sabha poll. Justice Kauser Edappagath, issuing the notice, directed Gopi to respond to the summons by November 22.

The petition was filed by Binoy A S, a Thrissur native and a leader of the All India Youth Federation. In the plea, Binoy has alleged that Gopi engaged in "corrupt practices", including misuse of religious symbols, which are defined under Section 123 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, during his LS poll campaign, reported Bar and Bench.

The petitioner also alleged, citing videos circulated on social media, Gopi offered monetary incentives to voters in his constituency. Advocates P R Reena, Santhosh Peter, Sumesh KB and Rakesh K appeared for Binoy.

Gopi is the lone Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP from Kerala in the Lok Sabha. He had scripted a historic win for the saffron party by ending its over-seven-decades-long political drought in Kerala. He had won the Thrissur LS seat with a massive lead of over 74,686 votes. While Gopi garnered a total of 4,12,338 votes, LDF's V S Sunilkumar came second with 3,37,652 votes and Congress leader K Muraleedharan settled in the third position with 3,28,124 votes.