KOCHI: KPCC president K Sudhakaran said that the Left's stand on A Raja's disqualification is a double standard. His criticism was in the context of the court's rejection of A Raja's request to extend the stay of the judgment disqualifying him for the post of MLA. K Sudhakaran also demanded that the assembly secretary should immediately issue a notification canceling the membership of A Raja.

Assembly secretary issuing a notification canceling the membership after the expiry of the stay is the practice followed by Left Governments. K Sudhakaran accused that the Left not taking this stand in the case of A Raja, shows the double standards of the government. The Election Commission was requested to issue an order to the DGP asking to file a criminal case against the CPM leader who contested in the election by presenting a fake document stating that he is a member of a reserved community, but no action was taken. There is no government, police, or legal system to notice the serious crimes committed by the CPM members and it is a complete breakdown of the rule of law, added K Sudhakaran.

High Court had canceled Devikulam election last month citing that Raja had contested after producing a fake caste certificate. The High Court judged that Raja, who is a Christian, was not eligible to contest for the Scheduled Caste reserved seat. A Raja was disqualified from the position of MLA with this verdict. However, the High Court stayed the verdict of canceling the election for 10 days on March 22 for Raja to file an appeal in the Supreme Court. The High Court rejected A Raja's request to extend the stay by another 20 days. Although the 10-day deadline for the stay has expired, the petition filed in the Supreme Court is yet to be considered. With this, the verdict of the High Court canceling the Devikulam election came into force again and A Raja was disqualified from the post of MLA.