The Sree Narayana Dharma Paripalana Yogam’s (SNDP) organisational elections scheduled to be held in Kollam on Sunday is set to witness a contest between the official panel led by incumbent general secretary Vellappally Natesan and one backed by those opposed to him.
The dissidents, led by general secretary candidate Shaji Vettooran, claimed that theirs was a platform for SNDP members who wanted democracy restored in the 112-year-old social organisation. They declared they had the support of the Sree Narayana Dharma Sangham Trust (SNDST), a body of monks that controlled the Sivagiri Madhom. The SNDST had opposed Mr. Natesan’s alleged move to politically align the SNDP with the Bharathiya Janata Party (BJP).
Mr. Vettooran said the election was heavily loaded in favour of Mr. Natesan. He said the general secretary had tweaked the electoral process to ensure that his side always won.
The SNDP had 28 lakh permanent members. But voting right was restricted to 10,428 members.
Local unions selected the electoral college in an arbitrary manner. The ratio of members to voting delegates was an undemocratic 200 to 1. If elected, the bylaw would be amended and voting rights restored to all members.
Only less than 2,000 of the delegates voted in the past election in 2010. The rest of the votes polled, an estimated 5,000, were fake ones.
Candidates were not allowed booth or counting agents. The electoral list had hundreds of fictitious voters, he alleged.
Elections to local unions were a farce. Dissenters were summarily ejected. Mr. Natesan’s nominees controlled most of the local units that chose the electoral college.
Mr. Natesan had placed 68 unions opposed to him under administrative control. The elected office-bearers of these unions were summarily removed.
Money diverted
Kilimanoor Chandrababu, election committee chairman, accused Mr. Natesan of siphoning off money from the SNDP to invest in his private projects abroad. The alleged corruption was pegged at Rs.1,000 crore.
Former SNDP union general secretary Gopinathan said Mr. Natesan had converted the organisation into a family fiefdom.He said the general secretary’s statements were often socially and politically divisive. It had led to resentment between communities and weakened Kerala’s secular social fabric. Mr. Natesan had aligned with the BJP in the hope of securing a Rajya Sabha seat for his son.
The presidential candidate, Cherunniyoor Jayaprakash, said he had secured a vote to ensure that the ballot boxes were kept in judicial custody after counting. He said in the past election, those who voted against Mr. Natesan’s panel had been identified and intimidated by his supporters after verifying the ballots. N. Dhaneshan is the candidate for the post of secretary, Devaswom.
