The Kozhikode District Congress Committee (DCC) is planning to approach the Kerala High Court this week over alleged discrepancies in the recently published draft voters’ list for the upcoming local body polls. The Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) has also raised concerns about the list.
DCC president K. Praveenkumar told The Hindu on Sunday (July 27, 2025) that the petition would be filed in the coming days. “Our prayer is to defer the publication of the final voters’ list until all the grievances are addressed,” he said.
P.K. Sharafudeen, district functionary of the Local Government Members’ League affiliated to the IUML, said many voters had found their names listed under other wards. Such voters had been asked to submit applications for correction. Mr. Sharafudeen, who is also the vice-president of the Peruvayal grama panchayat, alleged that the names of a large number of voters who had exercised their franchise in the Lok Sabha polls were missing from the draft list.
Terming the ward delimitation process unscientific, Mr. Praveenkumar said the State Election Commission had taken no action on the complaints it had received. A large number of local body members had secured a judicial stay against the process in their respective bodies from the High Court, and several similar petitions were still pending.
District Congress leaders alleged that the draft voters’ list had been secretly leaked to Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] leaders by local body officials even before its official publication on July 23. They also accused State Election Commissioner S. Shajahan of ignoring complaints regarding the leak.
Moreover, the Congress leaders said that large-scale anomalies had been noticed in the list, with the names of thousands of voters, including K.C. Shobitha, party leader in the Kozhikode Corporation council, missing from it. Congress leader Sudhamani, who had been elected thrice as councillor from the Kallai ward, was shifted along with 300 others to the Azchavattom ward. Voters in ward number 5 of Ulliyeri grama panchayat found their names in wards 3 and 10. In the Koduvally municipality, guidelines on local body boundaries were allegedly violated. In Naduvannur panchayat, many voters whose names had appeared in earlier rolls were missing. Similar anomalies were reported in Vadakara, Koyilandy and Payyoli municipalities.
The Congress leaders alleged that District Collector Snehil Kumar Singh remained a mute spectator to the legal violations, claiming he was subservient to the CPI(M). They said steps would be taken to expose Left-backed officials allegedly involved in the large-scale sabotage of the voters’ list.
Published – July 27, 2025 11:08 pm IST
