Kerala - Alappuzha   

`BJP diverted votes to UDF in Chengannur'

Staff Reporter

Failed LDF candidate alleges BJP-Congress secret pact

ALAPPUZHA: Saji Cheriyan, the CPI(M) leader who was the Left Democratic Front candidate in the Chengannur Assembly constituency, has said the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Congress had a secret understanding in the constituency in the Assembly elections and the former had diverted a large number of its votes to the United Democratic Front candidate P.C. Vishnunath.

Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Cheriyan said the BJP-Congress understanding led to his defeat in the polls. The votes secured by the BJP candidate Mannar Satish was far fewer than the votes secured by the BJP candidates in Chengannur constituency in the 2001 Assembly polls and the 2004 Lok Sabha polls.

The number of votes won by Mr. Satish, who is the district president of the BJP, in this election is 3,299, which is 3.78 per cent of the total votes polled. The number of votes secured by M.T. Ramesh, who was the BJP candidate in Chengannur in the 2001 Assembly polls, was 12,598, which was 13.32 per cent of the total votes polled. S. Krishnakumar, the BJP candidate in Mavelikara in the 2004 Lok Sabha elections, had polled 15,456 votes in the Chengannur Assembly constituency segment, which was 17.09 per cent of the total votes polled in that segment, Mr. Cheriyan pointed out.

He further noted that the BJP candidates who contested for various seats in the local bodies in the Chengannur Assembly constituency in the last local body elections had secured more than 17,000 votes.

According to Mr. Cheriyan, the above statistics proved that the BJP had diverted a major chunk of its votes to Mr. Vishnunath. He said the BJP State leadership owed an explanation to the people as to why the party candidate this time failed to get votes proportionate to the strength of the party in the constituency.

Mr. Cheriyan said he had no opposition to an open alliance between the BJP and the Congress as it was a matter between those parties. But a secret pact needed to be revealed to the people. He said he would organise a campaign in the coming days to expose this pact.

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

Stories in this Section

`BJP diverted votes to UDF in Chengannur'

Copyright © 2006, The Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of The Hindu