Leader of Opposition Oommen Chandy and Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala have said on Wednesday that the arguments of the Congress regarding malpractice by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) while preparing fresh voters’ lists in Kannur have been proved right.
Talking to the media at separate functions here, Mr. Chandy and Mr. Chennithala said the rejection of around 6,000 newly added names to the voters’ list in Kannur proved that the CPI (M) had manipulated the voters’ list revision process. It was left to the CPI(M) now to clarify how so many voters were added to the lists in just five months after the Lok Sabha elections, Mr. Chandy said, adding that the CPI(M)’s plans to gain a lead over the UDF by such malpractice were dashed.
Addressing various family get-togethers organised as part of the campaign of A.A. Shukoor in Alappuzha, Mr. Chandy later said the Congress saw the forthcoming by-elections as a chance to bring down the Left Democratic Front (LDF) Government, which had forgotten all its duties to the public in its three-year-tenure.
Meanwhile, authorities have finished work on revision of the voters’ list in the Alappuzha Assembly Constituency. The total number of voters now stands at 1,14,000 with 6,190 fresh additions. As many as 59,350 of these were female voters. A total of 483 applications were rejected as well, according to official sources.
