Kerala BJP's Surendran to withdraw bogus voting case

BJP Kerala general secretary K Surendran, who lost the 2016 Kerala Assembly polls by a meagre 89 votes at the Manjeshwaram constituency in Kasaragod district, has decided to withdraw a case he filed alleging bogus voting.

Surendran said on Monday that he decided to withdraw the case as the witnesses in the case were influenced by the CPM and Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and hence they were not appearing before the court.

Surendran had lost to IUML's P B Abdul Razak, who passed away recently. The court had earlier asked Surendran whether he was going ahead with the case, and Surendran had said he was committed to proving his case.

He said that though he could not prove the case in the court now because the witnesses were influenced, he said he hoped to win the people's mandate by contesting the by-polls.

Surendran's move will influence BJP's ongoing candidate selection for the Lok Sabha polls. Surendran is considerable a winnable candidate and was even considered for the Thiruvananthapuram Lok Sabha constituency, where the BJP has high hopes.