PATHANAMTHITTA: Three officials suspended on fake vote complaint. The complaint is that a woman in Aranmula, Pathanamthitta cast a vote in the name of her dead mother-in-law. The district collector suspended two polling officers and the BLO over the allegations.

The Collector has taken action against BLO Ambili, Polling Officers Deepa and Kala S Thomas on the fake vote complaint. The complaint is that daughter-in-law Annamma voted on behalf of Annamma, a native of Karithotta. Annamma had died six years ago. LDF came forward with the complaint of the fake vote. The Collector informed that the vote cast in the name of the dead woman will be considered invalid.

Meanwhile, the BLO admitted that a mistake happened in the incident. Daughter-in-law Annamma is bedridden. The vote-from-home was applied for her. The wrong serial number was written and it was left unnoticed. The BLO also said that the deceased Annamma's name had been requested to be removed from the voter list several times.

Earlier, six election officials in two Lok Sabha constituencies were suspended in connection with voting at home. District Returning Officer Arun K Vijayan had suspended Polling Officer Josna Joseph and BLO K Geeta of Kannur Lok Sabha constituency booth number 70.

Action has been taken against four officials in the incident at Kunnamangalam Peruvayal in Kozhikode Lok Sabha constituency. Kozhikode District Returning Officer Snehil Kumar Singh has suspended Special Polling Officer KT Manjusha, Polling Officer CV Fehmida, Macro Observer PK Anees and Booth Lever Officer PS Harish Kumar.