KOCHI: Hinting at bogus voting during last year’s election at the Manjeswaram Assembly constituency, the Central Government on Monday submitted before the Kerala High Court that only six out of the 26 voters listed as witnesses in the case were present in the state on April 15, 2016 - the poll day. The Centre said the rest of the 20 voters were abroad.
The Centre’s report was based on the information by A K Bhuyan, Joint Deputy Director, Intelligence Bureau, New Delhi. The HC had directed him to examine the emigration records to ascertain whether the voters were present in the constitutency during the election.
The Centre said the arrival/departure records of 197 persons were checked on the basis of name, percentage and date of birth. The Union Government said in the absence of the passport numbers of the listed persons, the check was conducted based on available parameters. IUML candidate P B Abdul Razak had defeated BJP's K Surendran by a 89 votes.