KOCHI: The Kerala High Court has issued summons to 259 voters in the Manjeswaram constituency on a petition filed by BJP leader K Surendran alleging bogus voting in the 2016 Assembly election.
In his petition, Surendran alleged bogus voting had resulted in his failure in the polls. Of the 259 persons in the voters’ list, some were not alive or not in Manjeshwaram on the date of polling, the petition stated.
During the trial, the petitioner’s counsel included the voters as witnesses in the case. Hence, the court granted permission to gather evidence and directed them to be present before the court.
BJP candidate K Surendran who lost to IUML candidate P B Abdul Razak by a margin of 89 votes had filed the petition seeking to declare the election null and void. Though several persons included in the voters’ list were not alive on the date of the polling, their votes were cast by some people.
It was reliably understood those votes were falsely cast by impersonation at the behest of the UDF candidate and they were recorded in his favour, Surendran said in the petition.
Surendran sought a directive to declare he is the elected candidate as he had secured the maximum number of valid votes polled in the constituency.