Election commission denies allegations of 'vote chori' in BJP's maiden win in Kerala; Seeks declaration

Thiruvananthapuram: With the Congress and left-parties in Kerala alleging that 'vote chori' helped in BJP's maiden Lok Sabha election victory in the state last year, the state chief electoral officer rejected the allegations and insisted on giving the allegation as declaration.

After Congress leader Rahul Gandhi came out with the 'vote chori' allegation against the BJP, Congress, CPM and CPI leaders in Kerala alleged that the BJP indulged in voter list manipulations in the Thrissur also and it helped the victory of union minster and maiden BJP MP from Kerala Suresh Gopi.

Former minister V S Sunilkumar of the CPI, who lost to Gopi at Thrissur, was among those who raised the allegation.

In a letter to Sunilkumar on Sunday, Kerala chief electoral officer Rathan U Khelkar said that all complaints against the electoral rolls were addressed ahead of the elections. He also flayed raising allegations against election officials and asked Sunilkumar to submit the complaint in prescribed declaration if he wished to pursue the matter further.

Sunilkumar had termed the election victory of Gopi as a manipulated one.

CPM general secretary M A Baby was the latest to raise the allegation. He said on Sunday that over 30,000 bogus votes were made in favour of Gopi in the Lok Sabha election.

Congress alleged that 11 votes of Gopi's family members and relatives were illegally added to Thrissur by taking rented houses. BJP workers from nearby constituencies were illegally added to the voters list of Thrissur.

The BJP and Sangh Parivar were indulging in illegally adding voters in Thrissur and some other constituencies, Opposition leader V D Satheesan had alleged.

BJP camps were countering the allegations by citing that Gopi won with a margin of nearly 75,000 votes and hence the allegations that up to 30,000 votes were manipulated would not make any change in the election result.