Kerala - Thiruvananthapuram   

UDF criticises poll process

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Members of the Opposition United Democratic Front (UDF) on Wednesday staged a walkout from the Assembly alleging widespread irregularities in ward delimitation and preparation of voters' list for the upcoming local body elections. Seeking adjournment of the House to discuss the issue, the Opposition alleged that the back-to-back notification of delimited wards and revised electoral rolls clearly showed that the whole exercise was undertaken in a manner that suited the interests of the government. Although the treasury benches took the position that it had nothing to do with the poll preparations, the Opposition was hardly convinced.

Deputising for Local Self-Government Minister Paloli Mohammed Kutty, Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac said there was no rationale in the Opposition allegations because any irregularity in the preparation of electoral rolls could be pointed out and rectified during the coming one month. The government had nothing to do with ward delimitation or preparation of electoral rolls and as such there was no justification in the charges against it on these counts, he said.

Before staging the walkout, Leader of the Opposition Oommen Chandy accused the government of having refused to provide support to the State Election Commission to complete its work on time. Although the Commission had moved the government on the subject as far back as 2007, the government began taking action on ward delimitation only very recently.

This was done to enable the delimitation of wards in a hurry so that nobody would get sufficient time to raise their objections to the irregularities, he said.

The House also witnessed some sharp exchanges between the treasury and Opposition benches.

Team meets SEC

A delegation of the Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee (KPCC) has urged the State Election Commission (SEC) to take steps for removing the anomalies in the preliminary measures taken for the general elections to the local bodies.

The team, which met the SEC here on Wednesday, wanted it to hold discussions with the political parties and public workers on the voters list.

It said the calendar of the draw of lots as per the guidelines for deciding the reservation wards should be published in advance.

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