THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Kerala unit of the BJP on Thursday levelled serious allegations of large-scale irregularities in the recently released draft voters list, accusing the ruling Left of orchestrating a manipulation campaign with the support of government officials.
Addressing a press conference here, BJP state general secretary Anoop Antony claimed that the party had detected over 5 lakh discrepancies across the state.
“We have identified three major types of manipulations: multiple voters sharing the same identity card number, individuals possessing more than one voter ID, and voters registered in multiple locations. This is a criminal offence,” he said. The BJP has submitted detailed complaints to the State Election Commission and is considering legal action, he added.
BJP state secretary V V Rajesh cited glaring disparities between the official population and voter numbers in several wards. “In Vizhinjam, the official population is 8,617, but the voters list shows 12,003. In the Beemapally area, the population is 9,875, yet the number of voters is 16,658. In Poonthura, 8,834 people reside, but there are 14,460 registered voters.
Similarly, in Valiyathura, the population is 8,617, and the number of voters is 11,173,” he said, quoting recent population data released by the Election Commission.
“How can the number of voters exceed the total population in an area? This exposes the extent of manipulation. This is the case in all districts,” he alleged.
Party Thiruvananthapuram district president Karamana Jayan directly blamed the Left for the alleged fraud. “Knowing they are staring at a major defeat in the upcoming local body polls, the Left has resorted to manipulation, aided by some government officials. The BJP will expose this conspiracy,” he said.
When asked whether the party would demand a Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of the electoral roll, Anoop said the party’s demand is that the State Election Commission must use software or other tools to detect and remove such illegal entries.
“The commission must also investigate how these manipulations occurred and take strict action against the officials responsible,” he added. The party also released evidence of some of the alleged manipulations and stated that all such irregularities have been formally presented before the State Election Commission.