A group of workers belonging to the United Democratic Front (UDF), led by the UDF candidate in the Taliparamba constituency, staged a protest in the taluk office at Taliparamba alleging denial of opportunity to people to enrol in the voters' list.
The irate UDF workers led by UDF candidate Job Michael barged into the office of Taliparamba Tahsildar K.K. Vijayan on Saturday morning, raising their protest against the authorities who refused to conduct the hearing for people who had applied for inclusion in the voters' list and had been asked to appear for a hearing on Saturday. The protestors said those who arrived for the hearing were told that it had already been completed on March 24 and 25.
The protest ended when the authorities decided to conduct the hearing for those who had been asked to appear for it on Saturday. When contacted, District Collector and District Electoral Officer Anand Singh told The Hindu that though the hearing had earlier been scheduled for March 26, a press release was later issued informing the applicants that the hearing would be conducted on March 24 and 25 in view of the Election Commission's instruction that the electoral roll had to be finalised by 3 p.m. on March 26. Mr. Singh said the hearing was conducted for all those who reached the taluk office on Saturday for the scheduled hearing.
