Allegations of widespread rigging in postal votes, says Chennithala, officials in Kollam and Parasala got ballots a second time

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala on Friday alleged widespread rigging in postal votes in the elections held on April 6. He said that although he had asked election commission to take action to prevent this, no effective action was taken.

Had asked the Chief Electoral officer (CEO) T R Meena to ensure that transparency was maintained with regards to the postal ballots after complaints of improper handling had surfaced.

Kerala had voted on April 6 to elect 140 MLAs and the votes would be counted on May 2.

Chennithala told media here that he has already spoken to Meena and has also sent a detailed letter.

"It has come to our notice that there have been grave errors on the part of the officials who have been handling the postal votes. Around three lakh postal votes have been cast by those people who were engaged in poll duty," said Chennithala.

"Those people who were on poll duty were asked to vote at certain centres and the complaint is some of them also received postal ballots. This means there is going to be duplicate votes. We have asked Meena to ensure that there is no duplication and necessary action should be taken against the erring officials," said Chennithala.

Another complaint that he has taken up is with regards to the errors that have cropped up in the facility provided to those aged above 80. These elderly voters were given the facility to vote at their homes with officials arriving at their homes.

"It has come to our notice that these votes that were taken from the people from their homes were not kept in the ballot boxes but in plastic carry bags. We have asked Meena to ensure that there are no chances of any misappropriation," said Chennithala.

In the meanwhile, a teacher who registered postal votes got postal ballot a second time. K Babu, a teacher of Thazhava HSS got the ballot again. It has to be suspected that ballots were obtained in a similar manner. An official who voted in Parasala got the postal ballot again. The district collector has informed that the returning officer has been entrusted to probe the issue which happened in Kollam.