Kerala - Kannur   

Ballots destroyed in three booths

Staff Reporter

Election officials awaiting SEC order for repolls

KANNUR: Three booths at Kunnoth in the Payam panchayat in the Iritty police station limits were vandalised and ballot boxes allegedly snatched by CPI(M) activists just 10 minutes before the polling ended.

The police said that a group of LDF activists allegedly barged into the polling station and destroyed polled ballots in the three booths. The election officials here are awaiting an order from the State Election Commission to conduct a repoll in these booths.

In another incident, Iritty Circle Inspector Prince Abraham fired into the air to disperse mobs at Kallanthode, near Koottupuzha, around 6 p.m. Mr. Abraham opened fire when two processions of rival party activists headed towards each other. The activists were soon dispersed. At Chokli, the police used a grenade to disperse a group of CPI(M) activists.

LDF and UDF leaders levelled charges against each other on election malpractices in different parts of the district. Addressing a press conference here in the evening, CPI(M) leader E.P. Jayarajan accused the district administration and the police of colluding with the `agenda' of Chief Minister Oommen Chandy to disrupt polling in the region. Mr. Jayarajan said that the police did not take any action when P.K. Sreemathi, MLA, was manhandled at Madayi and A.P. Abdullakutty, MP, was attacked at Narath by IUML activists. In several IUML and BJP-RSS strongholds, violence was unleashed against LDF voters and polling agents, he said. In Ramanthali panchayat's Ward XIII, polling officials provoked LDF activists by insisting on seeing their identity cards, he said. The police caned them when they protested, he added.

In Elankode, LDF activists and voters were not allowed to cast their franchise by RSS activists, he added. He said the CPI(M) was toying with the idea of non-co-operation towards the district administration and the police. Congress MLA K. Sudhakaran said at a press conference that the district witnessed the worst ever bogus voting in its history. He urged the State Election Commission (SEC) to order an inquiry by judicial officers into allegations of booth capturing and bogus voting.

Bogus voting alleged

Directives to conduct repolling should be issued as per the proposals of the inquiry commission, Mr. Sudhakaran added. The UDF plans to bring the situation in Kannur to the attention of the President as it made the democratic exercise a farce, he said.

Mr. Sudhakaran said that the CPI(M) activists indulging in bogus voting in wards that were UDF strongholds.

In as many as 160 booths in the district, UDF booth agents were not allowed to sit. CPI(M) activists were also not allowed to cast their votes in many areas, he said. Anomalies were detected in the voters' lists, he said.

Printer friendly page  
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Stories in this Section

Ballots destroyed in three booths

Copyright © 2005, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu