ALAPPUZHA: A political slugfest got triggered on Thursday when the police registered a case against Shanimol Usman, UDF candidate in Aroor, one of the five assembly constituencies in the state where byelections are scheduled on October 21, after she blocked a road repair work alleging that authorities were violating the election model code of conduct.
The Aroor police said the case was registered against the Congress leader based on a complaint filed by a Public Works Department assistant executive engineer. The complaint said Congress workers led by Shanimol blocked the repair work on the Ezhupunna-Eramalloor road on September 27 night.
The PWD official lodged the complaint with the district police chief who directed the Aroor police to register a case, officers said. Along with Shanimol, five other Congress leaders were also booked under non-bailable section 353 (assault or criminal force to deter a public servant from discharge of his duty).
With Aroor going to the polls, the Congress workers blocked the road restoration work alleging that the authorities were violating the election model code of conduct (MCC), which came into effect on September 21 when the bypoll in the five constituencies was announced.
“The work was carried out around midnight (of September 21), which violated the MCC. So we blocked the work,” Shanimol said.
The case registered under non-bailable sections was politically motivated, she said. “I am ready to go to jail if the government moves ahead with the case. Such violations will be prevented in future also,” she added.
C B Chandrababu, CPM state committee member, however, said many work have been progressing in the constituency and all these projects were awarded before the declaration of the election dates.“The contractor had been waiting for the monsoon rain to end to commence the work. The work is being carried out work at night as the junction is the busiest in the constituency,” he added.