Ernakulam (Kerala): The Kerala High Court on Thursday examined the CCTV footage of the drwa of lots held in connection with the appointment of the Sabrimala Melsanthi (chief priest). This move by the High Court came after a petition seeking a stay on the selection alleging irregularities.
The Travancore Devaswom Board produced the CCTV footage as per the court's order. A copy of the footage was also given to the petitioner's counsel. The petitioner Madhusudan, a native of Thiruvananthapuram filed a petition alleging that the elections of the Sabrimala Melsanthi were not being conducted in a fair manner.
Madhusudan also demanded that the election of Mahesh, who was elected as Sabrimala Melsanthi by the draw of lots must be cancelled and elections must be conducted again in a fair manner. Sabrimala Melsanthi was elected by picking out a chit of paper with the name of a contender written on it from a jar filled with numerous other chits with the name of other contenders written on them.
In his petition, Madhusudan alleged that the chit with the desired candidates name was folded properly while the chits with the names of rest of the contender was crumbled. A jar was filled with all these chits. While taking out the draw of the lots, the chit which was folded properly was placed on top so that the it could be chosen for the draw of the lots.
The elections for the new Melsanthi of Sabarimala was held On October 18. In the draw, Mahesh PN, a native of Muvatupuzha, was selected as the Melsanthi of Sabarimala and Murali PG was selected as Malikappuram Melsanthi. 17 people were shortlisted for the Melsanthi draw.
