Chief electoral officer orders case against G Sudhakaran for his revelation of tampering postal ballots

ALAPPUZHA: The chief electoral officer has directed to register an FIR against former minister and CPM leader G Sudhakaran and conduct an investigation. The order comes in the wake of his controversial revelation that postal ballots were opened and tampered with. The chief electoral officer has asked Alappuzha district electoral officer to take immediate action. The officials are presently recording his statement at his house in Alappuzha.

The direction to file a case was given after the chief electoral officer of Kerala clarified that legal aspects of the revelation were being examined and that it was an extremely serious matter. G Sudhakaran got into trouble for his disclosure at an NGO union conference in Alappuzha.

The revelation was that postal votes were tampered with and the votes were changed in favor of the CPM candidate. Sudhakaran also dared the election commission to register a case against him. The election commission cannot ignore the revelation of election irregularities. The election commission is examining the legal aspects of further action in this context.

Sudhakaran said that he along with others altered postal votes when K V Devadas contested as a CPM candidate in Alappuzha in the 1989 parliamentary elections. The revelation was that postal votes of government employees were altered at the CPM district committee office. Sudhakaran also said that Devdas did not get 15 percent of the votes of the members of CPM service organizations. Congress candidate Vakkom Purushothaman won the election 36 years ago.