Bogus votes continue to be a big problem as Kerala heads to Assembly elections on April 6. After opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala made claims of fraudulent votes, United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate K Muraleedharan has now come out with allegations of bogus votes in the Nemom constituency.
Muraleedharan alleged that there are more than 7,000 bogus votes in the Nemom constituency. Two other Congress candidates – VS Sivakumar and Veena S Nair have also alleged bogus votes were added in Vattiyoorkavu, Nemom and Thiruvananthapuram Central constituency. Sivakumar alleged that the Vattiyoorkavu constituency has 8,400 bogus votes, Thiruvananthapuram Central has 7,600 and Nemom has over 6,300.
In addition, Sivakumar said that he would file a complaint with the Election Commission and demanded action against bogus votes. These bogus vote claims are coming on the heels of opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala’s claims that there have been bogus voters in the list ahead of the Kerala Assembly elections. Later, Kerala Chief Electoral Officer Teeka Ram Meena confirmed Chennithala’s claims.
Meanwhile, Muraleedharan also alleged that the UDF will win despite the CPM trying its best to help the BJP win in Nemom. The UDF candidate also claimed that the BJP and CPM are having an agreement over the Thalassery seat.
However, BJP state president K Surendran denied claims of any agreement between the BJP and the CPM. Surendran said that voters from Guruvayur and Thalaserry would have the opportunity to vote for BJP despite the rejection of BJP candidate's nomination papers in Thalassery, Devikulam and Guruvayur. "In both constituencies, people will have the opportunity to vote for BJP. There is no agreement in both constituencies. Days are still there for elections and, if we had to adjust, then why did we do it at Guruvayur," Surendran told a leading media organisation.
Surendran also attacked Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan over the deep-sea controversy. “The Chief Minister is the biggest hypocrite. All the agreements with the US-based company were made with the knowledge of the Chief Minister’s Office. He should explain to the people why he lied to them that he did not know about the agreement,” Surendran said, alleging that the beneficiaries of the agreement were Vijayan and EP Jayarajan.
Meanwhile, the BJP Kerala president said that the Kerala nuns’ harassment in Jhansi is an isolated incident. “What happened to the Kerala nuns in Jhansi is an isolated incident. There is no question that what anti-socials did should not be linked to politics,” Surendran said, adding that Union Home Minister Amit Shah informed that strong action would be taken against those responsible.
