The police on Saturday registered cases against 26 CPI(M) activists and 19 workers of the Congress-led UDF for the alleged offence of casting bogus votes by impersonation during the polling held on April 10 for the 16th lok Sabha election in Kannur, known as Kerala’s Marxist heartland.
The Kerala Police of the Kudiyanmala station booked the 45 activists from the two sides on orders passed by the First Class Judicial Magistrate of Thalipparamba, Kannur on the basis of complaints filed by leftist and UDF leaders of Eruvesi Panchayat in Irikkur Assembly segment of the Kannur lok Sabha constituency.The 45 persons were booked for impersonation, forgery of documents and bogus voting. Of the 26 CPI(M) activists booked, 19 were charged with casting votes in the name of others while the charge against seven was of helping them. The Kannur constituency has always witnessed complaints of bogus voting during and after elections.
The court ordered initiation of cases against the 26 CPI(M) activists on the basis of a complaint lodged on March 22 by Joseph Kottukappally, the constituency president of the Congress and UDF’s booth agent, saying that they had cast bogus votes at polling booth No 109 at the KKN Upper Primary School at Eruvesi.The 19 Marxists had allegedly cast bogus votes of 79 voters including those were in Defence services or the Gulf or were already dead. The UDF had petitioned the Kannur district collector and the Election Commission before the date of polling saying that the Marxists were likely to cast 3,000 bogus votes in the Mattannur Assembly segment.
Case was registered against the 19 UDF activists on the basis of a complaint filed in March 24 by CPI(M)’s Eruvesi local unit secretary Kumaran alleging bogus voting by Congressmen at booth No 110 at the same school. CPI(M) sources said that more Congressmen had been involved in electoral malpractices in Kannur.
Kannur’s sitting MP K Sudhakaran, UDF candidate, said that the Marxists had been specializing in casting bogus votes in the name of those who had already been dead or working in faraway places. According to him, the Marxists had cast at least 15,000 bogus votes in favour of his CPI(M) rival PK Sreemathi.However, the CPI(M) said the Congress was leveling baseless allegations against the left out of fear of certain defeat in the election, adding that they would face the charges legally. CPI(M)’s Kannur district secretary P Jayarajan said that the action against the workers of his party was part of a conspiracy.