CPI(M), Congress to highlight ‘voter fraud’ in Thrissur LS polls in campaign against BJP

The ruling front and the Opposition in the State seem set to spotlight alleged voter fraud in the 2024 Thrissur Lok Sabha elections in their campaigning against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) ahead of the local body elections later in the year.

The possibility of electoral malpractices is arguably gaining political traction in Kerala after Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha Rahul Gandhi accused the Election Commission of India (ECI) of colluding with the BJP to add over a lakh phoney voters to the electoral list in at least one Assembly segment in a Lok Sabha constituency in Karnataka ahead of the 2024 general elections.

Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] general secretary M.A. Baby told reporters in Thrissur that the contours of the electoral fraud in Karnataka appeared evident in the Thrissur constituency too. He alleged that the ECI helped BJP booth agents add at least 30,000 bogus voters in Thrissur using fudged proof of domicile and forged identities.

Charges against ECI

Mr. Baby said the ECI had called a meeting of election officials from the Booth Level Officer (BLO) and upwards ahead of the 2024 polls to dilute the voter enrolment process. The ECI had authorised BLOs to add to the voters’ list any person who has completed two days of residence in their jurisdiction, if the individual provided the slightest proof of domicile. Earlier, he said, a new voter qualified for the electoral list only if the person provided solid evidence of residence for at least six months.

“Guest workers, passers-by, and people outside the constituency found their way into the electoral list with the ctive collusion of ECI officials and BJP agents who provided them phoney identity proof and addresses of empty houses and apartments in Thrissur,” Mr. Baby said.

District Congress Committee president Joseph Taget alleged that the ECI glossed over anomalies on the voters’ list flagged by party workers. UDF leader N.K. Premachandran, MP, said the INDIA bloc allies would weigh impeaching the members of the constitutional body.

BJP response

M.T. Ramesh, BJP’s core committee member, rubbished the CPI(M)-Congress claims. He said Mr. Gopi won by over 75,000 votes. He said the surprising victory stung both parties and signalled the end of UDF-LDF “revolving door” politics in Kerala. “The CPI(M) and Congress had no complaints about the electoral list during the voter enrolment phase,” he said.