Setting aside a single judge’s order, a division bench of Kerala High Court has ruled against contesting candidates flaunting their political affiliations in cooperative society elections. As per the ruling, names of candidates could not be printed in different colors on the ballot paper, reports Hindu.
The single judge had allowed printing of names of contesting candidates in different colors on the ballot paper.
Allowing an appeal filed by the government the court observed “any ornamentation of the ballot paper” by incorporation of a symbol or colour for the contesting candidate was not contemplated either in the Kerala Cooperative Societies Act or the Rules.
The court said giving different colour shades to the candidates or to a particular panel of contesting candidates was “an anathema to the scheme of the election process.”