The Election Commission (EC) on Monday passed a majority order awarding the disputed ‘two leaves’ symbol of Kerala Congress (Mani) to the faction led by Jose K Mani, son of party founder K M Mani. Outgoing Commissioner Ashok Lavasa, however, wrote a dissenting order stating that neither of the two factions can be recognised as KC(M) until fresh affidavits of support are called in. KC(M) split into two groups after the death of party patriarch KM Mani last year. One faction is led by Jose K Mani, who is also a Rajya Sabha MP, while the other is led by PJ Joseph, who was working chairman of the party at the time of KM Mani's demise. CEC Sunil Arora and his colleague Sushil Chandra were of the opinion that Jose K Mani enjoys majority support in the legislative and organisational wings of the party. This decision was based on the verification of affidavits filed by 305 State Committee Members who were common among the list of supporters provided by both factions. Lavasa — who had resigned as EC earlier this month and Monday was his last day in office — disagreed and was of the opinion that the test of the majority should be applied after calling for fresh affidavits of support from both factions. "On verification of these affidavits, it was observed that the language used in the affidavits (by both factions) to claim the so-called 'support’ was neither consistent nor conclusive to determine the unequivocal support supposedly extended. Besides, repetition of names, non-disclosure of full names, it was found that five members had submitted affidavits of support for both the factions. Therefore, the very basis of determining the ‘majority’ appears muddled and difficult to rely upon," Lavasa said in his order. Arora and Chandra were not in favour of calling for fresh affidavits on the ground that the next Assembly election is less than a year away and calling for fresh affidavits of support could delay the EC's decision. “Moreover, allowing another chance to file fresh affidavits may also give both the factions an opportunity to engage in horse-trading which may not lead to a fair outcome,” the majority order states. Lavasa argued that the issue of horse-trading is speculative. Lavasa resigned as EC to join as vice-president at Asian Development Bank in Manila.
