THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Senior Congress leader Ramesh Chennithala has alleged massive voters’ list fraud in Kerala, drawing a comparison to the irregularities exposed recently by Rahul Gandhi at the national level.
In a press conference in Thiruvananthapuram on Wednesday, Chennithala recalled that in March 2021, he had brought out evidence of widespread fake and duplicate votes in the state ahead of the assembly elections. He said a scrutiny of the final voters’ list published by the Election Commission (EC) at the time showed shocking duplication.
The initial findings indicated large numbers of fake votes in constituencies such as Kazhakoottam (4,506), Koyilandi (4,611), Nadapuram (6,171) and Ambalappuzha (4,750), he said. Follow-up checks by UDF workers across all 140 constituencies had allegedly uncovered 4.34 lakh duplicate or fake votes. Despite filing a complaint with the EC, Chennithala said action was limited. It admitted to 38,000 double votes but cited technical limitations in verifying the rest.
He alleged the actual number of fraudulent votes could exceed 10 lakh, enough to have influenced the 2021 poll outcome, and accused the CPM and BJP of aiding each other to seize power. Chennithala also raised suspicions about alleged voters’ list manipulation in Thrissur, where the BJP won, suggesting it may have been done with CPM’s knowledge.