Kozhikode BJP threatens legal action over council motion against election chief

BJP representatives say the municipal council violated a Kerala High Court order when it adopted a resolution seeking Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar’s resignation.

K.P. Prakash Babu, president of the BJP’s Kozhikode city district unit, announced the party’s intention to seek legal review. He said BJP councillors opposed the motion adopted at a meeting earlier this week, while members of the Left Democratic Front and United Democratic Front supported it.

Prakash Babu cited a 2023 court order issued after a petition by Navya Haridas, then the BJP’s council party leader. He said the rules allow the council to consider only resolutions within the municipality’s administrative remit and that national-level matters should not be decided by a city council.

The earlier Kerala High Court proceeding concerned a proposed resolution on the Uniform Civil Code. The court temporarily stayed consideration of that proposal, finding that the issue could fall outside the municipal council’s powers. Whether that ruling applies to the current motion concerning the chief election commissioner would be for a court to assess if the BJP files a case.

Babu also said the motion diverts attention from local problems and shows that the INDIA bloc’s political understanding has extended to the Kozhikode council. Those assessments and accusations are the BJP’s position. The Hindu did not report a response from the municipal council’s leadership to the threatened legal action.