Voter list controversy heats up Thrissur; UDF and LDF joining hands; BJP highlighting vote leakage

THRISSUR: UDF and LDF have accused the BJP of fraudulently adding thousands of votes for Suresh Gopi's victory in the last Lok Sabha elections. The controversy has heated up as the BJP has come forward to defend it. While both the fronts have presented evidence, the BJP's response has been to highlight the vote leakage at the booth of Left candidate V.S. Sunil Kumar.

The BJP is accused of including voters from other constituencies to secure its victory. There is also an allegation that the complaint received by former Collector and Chief Electoral Officer Krishna Teja was not forwarded to higher levels. After the elections, Krishna Teja went to the team of the Deputy Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, which is ruled by the BJP alliance. The LDF and UDF allege that the Chief Electoral Officer's opinion that the complaint was not received is baseless.

The Left and Right Fronts say that all the votes in Thrissur were added at the last stage. The main allegation is that voters from the Alathur and Chalakudy constituencies were added to Thrissur. DCC President Advocate Joseph Tajet had released documents with evidence, citing irregularities in the voter list. Congress alleges that the votes of BJP candidate Suresh Gopi and his brother Subhash Gopi's family members were added in booth number 116 from serial numbers 1016 to 1026.

More than 30,000 votes added: M.A. Baby

CPM General Secretary M.A. Baby said that BJP has added more than 30,000 votes in Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency. People from nearby constituencies added their votes in Thrissur city under fake addresses. They voted in both constituencies. The Election Commission is behaving like an appendage of the BJP rule. The Commission called a meeting of election officials including BLOs in Delhi the other day. It was instructed that names can be added to the voter list if there is evidence that they have stayed within the booth limits for at least two days. Only those who have stayed for at least six months are added at present. This has been changed to two days. On the other hand, voters are being removed from the list en masse through special intensive revision. Rahul Gandhi's revelations are explosive. Opposition parties in the country have asked the Election Commission to respond on the issue.

Insulting voters: M.T. Ramesh

BJP State General Secretary M.T. Ramesh said in a press conference that the leadership of the CPM and Congress is trying to insult the voters of Thrissur. Suresh Gopi's victory is the hard work of BJP workers. They are challenging the voters. The leaders of the CPM and Congress have not yet recovered from the shock of Suresh Gopi's victory. They were behind Pooram for some time. When it did not work, they came forward with the voter list. The leaders of the Congress and CPM should undergo the necessary treatment immediately. Suresh Gopi and his family voted in Thrissur by removing their votes from Thiruvananthapuram. It is what everyone does.

Booth level verification will be conducted in the coming days using all the facilities of LDF. Exact details will be released later.

-V.S.Sunil Kumar

Vote Status

Total votes polled: 10,90,876

Suresh Gopi: 4,12,338

Adv. V.S. Sunil Kumar: 337652

K. Muraleedharan: 3,28,124

Majority: 74,686