The Congress in Kerala on Thursday expelled legislator Rahul Mamkootathil from the party after a district court in Thiruvananthapuram rejected his anticipatory bail plea in a sexual assault case. The decision marks the culmination of mounting pressure on the party after a series of serious allegations against the young MLA.
Congress state president Sunny Joseph confirmed the expulsion, stating that the party leadership had reached the decision following consultations with the high command in New Delhi.
“It is better that he quit as a legislator. The Congress has never protected him. When allegations came up in the media, we suspended him and removed him from the legislative party of the Congress, which kept him away from the Congress benches in the assembly. Our action is exemplary in this regard,” Joseph told reporters, IE reported.
Who is Rahul Mamkootathil?
Mamkootathil, a native of Pathanamthitta district, was elected from Palakkad in a high-profile byelection last November, after incumbent MLA Shafi Parambil won the Vadakara Lok Sabha seat. Seen as one of the youth faces of the party, he earlier served as the state president of the Youth Congress and was a regular on television debates, earning visibility and rapid elevation within the organisation.
His rise was not without controversy. He was accused of manipulating the voter list during the Youth Congress organisational elections but survived internal criticism. Indian Express reported that he enjoyed the confidence of Opposition Leader VD Satheesan and MP Shafi Parambil, which helped him secure the Palakkad ticket despite objections from local leaders.
Mamkootathil, who had already been suspended from the Congress legislative party, has now been removed from the organisation’s primary membership. The Palakkad MLA has been accused of rape in two separate cases and has allegedly been on the run since police registered the first case against him last week.
Pressure on Congress
The Congress, which had faced criticism for not acting decisively earlier, moved quickly on Thursday after the court rejected Mamkootathil’s plea for protection from arrest. The setback for the MLA followed the registration of a second rape case against him this week. The complaint, filed by another woman who accused him of sexual abuse in 2023, was forwarded to the police by the party leadership, prompting the second FIR.
The first case was registered last Friday, after a woman accused Mamkootathil of sexual assault and coercing her to undergo an abortion. Since then, police say the MLA has evaded arrest, leading to searches in multiple districts.
This week, another allegation surfaced when MA Shahanas, a leader of the Congress-backed cultural collective Samskara Sahithi, accused Mamkootathil of sending her inappropriate messages. She said she had earlier alerted Parambil to his behaviour, but her concerns were ignored.