Kerala Pradesh Congress Committee president Ramesh Chennithala has said the United Democratic Front (UDF) has lost trust in V.K. Balakrishnan, Collector of Kannur District, and that it would not be able to go ahead in this manner.
Addressing a press conference here on Tuesday, Mr. Chennithala said the case registered against K. Sudhakaran, MP, under non-bailable sections was unfortunate and that such action was unheard of in a democratic setup. Accusing the Kannur District Collector of acting like a puppet of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), Mr. Chennithala said the case against Mr. Sudhakaran appeared like a conspiracy to keep the MP away from the UDF’s election campaign.
The Congress would not allow any such conspiracy and would lodge a complaint with the State Election Commission to take action against government officials who were functioning in a biased manner, he said, alleging that at least 6,000 voters, whose names were included in the voters’ list for the recent Parliament elections, were removed by such officials for the November 7 Assembly by-poll.
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Mr. Chennithala also accused State Ministers of misusing government machinery to appease voters in Alappuzha, Ernakulam and Kannur constituencies. The Congress would lodge a complaint with the Central Election Commission and request the appointment of observers to monitor activities of the ministers.
The KPCC chief also lamented that though the UDF had lodged a complaint with the Alappuzha District Collector P. Venugopal on the ministers’ misusing government machinery and on the anomalies in the voters’ lists, there was no action initiated yet.
K.C. Venugopal, MP, AICC member G. Balakrishnan and KPCC Working Committee member K.S. Vasudeva Sharma were present.
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