BJP leader K. Surendran slams allegations of bogus votes in Thrissur, defends Suresh Gopi

Former BJP Kerala State president K. Surendran has lashed out at the CPI(M) and the Congress over their allegations of large-scale bogus voting in Thrissur, accusing both parties of political hypocrisy.

Speaking to mediapersons in Thrissur on Wednesday after meeting Union Minister and Thrissur MP Suresh Gopi at the latter’s camp office, Mr. Surendran questioned why the two parties, who now claim thousands of fake votes were added, failed to detect or act on it earlier.

“Parties that couldn’t identify bogus votes before the elections might as well hang themselves now,” Mr. Surendran remarked, indirectly responding to Minister V. Sivankutty’s charge that 60,000 fake votes were added for the BJP in Thrissur. He challenged both parties to fight it legally.

Mr. Surendran firmly defended Mr. Gopi, insisting he need not respond to such allegations. “The party and its president will answer political charges, not the MP,” he said, adding that no BJP MP is tasked with making public comments on such matters.

Mr. Surendran stressed that Mr. Gopi had lived in Thrissur for a full year and was eligible for being included in the voters’ list here.

Accusing rivals of trying to taint Mr. Gopi’s thumping majority of over 75,000 votes by pointing to “a handful” of disputed names, Mr. Surendran said defeated candidates should have challenged the results in court within a month. “When I lost by 89 votes in the past, three were 6,000 bogus votes, but I didn’t make a scene. That’s how politics should be done,” he noted.

Declaring that the BJP is unafraid of legal cases, Mr. Surendran warned that the party had the strength to stage protests, “even to pour black oil on the offices of all MLAs and MPs if needed.”