Kerala Assembly: Three Opposition MLAs suspended on charge of attacking security personnel

The Kerala Legislative Assembly passed a government-sponsored resolution on Thursday (October 9, 2025) barring three Congress legislators, who have been accused of attacking Watch and Ward personnel, from attending the House for the remainder of the current session.

The suspended MLAs are Roji M. John, M. Vincent, and Saneesh Kumar.

Notably, the tabling of the government resolution and subsequent voting took place after the Opposition benches emptied, following the United Democratic Front’s (UDF) ongoing boycott of legislative business over the alleged “misappropriation, replication and sale” of Sabarimala Ayyappa Temple artefacts to wealthy collectors. 

Tabling the resolution, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M.B. Rajesh said the UDF members had “crossed the point of no return” by seriously injuring Watch and Ward personnel, including women, shielding Speaker A.N. Shamseer from the Opposition members’ “physical trespasses on the Chair.”

Chief Marshal ‘injured’

He said the UDF’s “violence” seriously injured the Chief Marshal, M. Shibu, who sustained a grave fracture on his right arm when attempting to prevent Opposition legislators from storming the Speaker’s dias. “Mr. Shibu is scheduled for an emergency surgery at the Government Medical College Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram”, he said.

Mr. Rajesh said the UDF had been on the warpath since the Assembly resumed after a hiatus on October 6. “Expressing disenchantment with the High Court-ordered Crime Branch inquiry into the theft of gold coverings from Sabarimala, the UDF repeatedly disrupted legislative business”, he said. 

Mr. Rajesh said the UDF stayed away from debates on crucial Bills, “betraying the trust reposed in them by their constituents and the public at large.”

He said the government had agreed to an adjournment debate on the Sabarimala issue. However, the UDF, “unwilling to face the facts and keen on laying down a smokescreen of lies to score political brownie points”, turned down the ruling front’s offer, he said.

Mr. Rajesh accused the UDF of spurning the Speaker’s intermediation between the government and the Opposition for the smooth conduct of legislative business and Assembly proceedings. 

He also accused UDF members of rushing towards Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who is the Leader of the House, and manhandling women Watch and Ward personnel repeatedly.

Earlier, Mr. Rajesh had accused Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan of “unleashing terror” in the House. 

The Treasury benches passed the “condemnatory resolution” by voice vote.