District Collector S. Sambasiva Rao, who is also the District Election Officer, has submitted a report to the Chief Electoral Officer, Kerala, on the allegations of violation of rules against M.K. Raghavan, UDF candidate from the Kozhikode Lok Sabha constituency.
This follows a report in a Hindi news channel in which the Congress leader was seen admitting that his poll expenditure would run into crores of rupees, way above the ceiling fixed by the poll panel. Mr. Raghavan has also been accused of seeking kickbacks to purchase land for setting up a hotel in Kozhikode city. It is learnt that the report has sought a detailed probe to find out if Mr. Raghavan had violated the rules of the Election Commission of India (ECI). Action is likely against those who levelled the allegations, if the poll panel finds that there is no merit in them.
Meanwhile, P. Vahid, Additional Deputy Commissioner of Police, has begun a probe into a complaint lodged by Mr. Raghavan alleging a conspiracy behind the news report. The Congress leader had accused the Kozhikode district committee of the CPI(M) of colluding with a “gang” to tarnish his reputation ahead of the Lok Sabha elections.
He alleged that the CPI(M) had failed to defeat him politically in the last two general elections and was resorting to such an act to defame him. The CPI(M), however, termed the allegation baseless and childish. It has declared that if anyone related to the party was found to be involved in the episode, their memberships would be terminated.
The MP has lodged another complaint with A.V. George, District Police Chief (Kozhikode City), seeking action against social media users who are circulating the report. Mr. Raghavan claimed that the attempt had been towards character assassination.
He pointed out that even before proving the authenticity of the video, some people were sharing it online. Urging the cyber cell to remove them from cyberspace, Mr. Raghavan also attached links of some social media accounts and screenshots along with the complaint.
