Thiruvananthapuram: The Communists party’s lie about their cadres not committing fraud in the Lok Sabha election has been exposed by the Chief Election Officer (CEO), Tikaram Meena. The CEO has confirmed that communist activists had indeed done proxy voting in Kasaragod in blatant violation of the law.
The CEO said that proxy voting took place in three places in Kasaragod constituency. The crime took place in booth number 19 in the Government school in Pilathara located at Kalliyaseri in Kannur District. The place is considered a stronghold of the communist party.
According to the top election officer of the state, proxy voting was done by Padmini, Selina N. P. , and Sumaya. He has directed the police to take action against all the accused under IPC 171 (C,D,F).
Selina, who is an elected Panchayath Member, will be disqualified from her post and criminal proceedings will be taken against the three. Even the booth agents of the CPI(M) who helped the trio will face strong actions of the law.
When confronted by this serious allegations, the communist party came up with a bizarre explanation saying that it was not bogus voting but ‘open’ vote.
However, the Chief Election Officer also rubbished their claims and explained that for open voting both the voter and the person who is voting for that person must be present at the same time. The serious lapse from the election officers on duty has also come to the fore and they will be dealt after receiving suggestions from Central Election Commissioner. The officers will soon be suspended.
If found guilty all those who have committed the proxy voting will be sentenced to one year in prison and fined.
The Chief Election Officer said that re-polling will be decided by the Central Election Commissioner. He has also asked the District Collector to submit a detailed report within a week.
