As the uncertainty over the polling date loomed over electioneering in Piravom, both the UDF and the LDF moved to a higher gear on Wednesday with both the camps giving final touches to their respective campaign strategies.
While the Ministers Adoor Prakash and A.P. Anil Kumar and the KPCC general secretary Benny Behanan, MLA, camped in the constituency to inspire the campaigners and motivate the electorate, CPI(M) leaders Pinarayi Vijayan and E.V. Jayarajan were busy revving up their campaign machinery.
Mr. Prakash and Mr. Anil Kumar addressed panchayat-level election meetings at Maneed, Edakkattuvayal and Ramamangalam.
The LDF candidate, M.J. Jacob, meanwhile toured Thiruvankulam and Irumpanam areas along with bands of LDF workers and sent across his message to small groups of people.
Kerala Congress (Jacob) leader Johnny Nellore called a news conference at Piravom to rebut the LDF allegation that there had been an attempt to get bogus names into the voters' list.
The LDF had complained to the Chief Electoral Officer that the UDF had attempted to get fictitious new voters into the voters' list by making use of nuns in certain convents. The Chief Electoral Officer had asked the Ernakulam Collector to investigate this.
Mr. Nellore rebutted this allegation and alleged that the LDF had tried to insult the nuns by dragging them into the political fight. He wanted the CPI(M) to publicly apologise to the nuns.
The LDF's Piravom constituency secretary, P.S. Mohanan and CPI(M)'s mandalam secretary O.N. Vijayan, had alleged that the UDF had attempted to get fake voters enrolled in the name of nuns in convents, patients at a mental health rehabilitation centre and migrant labourers from other States. Mr. Nellore told The Hindu that as the process of finalising the voters' list in Piravom was still on, there was a surge of nearly 8,000 new voters' applications.
When the Election Commission insisted on strict verification of documents at the hearing for enlisting new voters, the LDF had backed down and most of the new applicants had failed to show up, Mr. Nellore claimed.
He said the CPI(M) was in the habit of unnecessarily attacking nuns and priests.
