By P. Sreekumaran
THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: A protracted politico-legal battle is in the offing as the CPI(M), CPI and the Congress are gearing up to move the Election Commission and courts with evidence of fraud in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency election in 2024 which BJP candidate Suresh Gopi won.
CPI leader and former minister V. S. Sunil Kumar, who lost to Gopi, set the ball rolling by submitting a complaint to the State electoral officer. CPI state secretary Binoy Viswam went a step further by seeking a Supreme Court-monitored probe into what he called “large-scale desecration’ of the voters’ list in Thrissur.
Likewise, former Thrissur MP and senior Congress leader T. N. Prathapan also filed a complaint with Thrissur police seeking a criminal investigation against the MP Suresh Gopi on charge of filing a false affidavit claiming more than six months’ domicile in the Thrissur Lok sabha constituency ahead of filing nominations in the LS elections in 2024. The charge is also that the MP enrolled voters at booth no.115 in the Thrissur LS constituency by filing a false affidavit. As per the People Representation Act, only a permanent resident can add new voters. Kerala’s education minister V. Sivankutty had a dig at the Thrissur MP. While the Union Minister’s Lok Sabha vote was in Thrissur, in the upcoming local bodies poll, the MP, whose native place is in Kollam, will cast his vote in Thiruvananthapuram, according to Sivankutty, adding that the registration of Gopi’s car was done at the Union Territory of Pondicherry!
According to Thrissur City Police Commissioner R. Ilango, the Thrissur SP will look into the complaint made by Prathapan.
Another complaint filed by the Congress says that as many as 236 voters belonging to Shobha City zone in Kolazhi Panchayat, Thrissur, have applied for inclusion in the voters list in Alathur LS constituency in Palakkad district! The allegation is that votes are returning to Alathur after the Thrissur result.
Residents in many apartments in Thrissur were stunned to discover that names had quietly made it to the voters’ list without the actual occupants knowing a thing about it. An instance of irregularity came from the Capital Village apartments near Punkunnam. Residents were shocked to discover that nine names had quietly made it to the voters’ list under the address of flat “4C” — without the actual occupants knowing a thing about it. Once the fraud was discovered, the nine did not turn up to cast their votes!
Meanwhile, the man in the eye of the storm, Suresh Gopi has urged political leaders in Thrissur raising complaints about the voters list in the LS election to take their grievances to the Supreme Court. “The Election Commission will answer their questions. It’s the Election Commission’s responsibility to handle this. As a minister, I cannot respond,” he said. “There were some ‘vanaranmar’ (monkeys) here who came up with questions. Let them approach the Supreme Court with it.” Gopi said . The whole episode has left a trail of bitterness. It is shocking to note that the MP’s habit of making derogatory and insulting remarks against his critics has not changed one bit. He continues to forget that this is not reel life, and that he needs to abide by accepted norms of public behaviour in real life.
It is for the first time that Gopi was responding to the allegations of voters’ list manipulation charges against him in connection with the Lok Sabha polls last year.
In a quick retort to Suresh, District Congress Committee (DCC) president Joseph Tajet strongly criticised his ‘vanara’ remarks, stating that the Congress party’s culture does not permit them to respond in the same language.
Stating that Gopi might have made the “vanara” remark by looking at the mirror, the Congress leader further said the party would not backtrack from its allegations against him at any cost. “He has not opened his mouth so far about the allegations. Now, his reply was tantamount to insulting the entire people of Thrissur. It is regrettable. Congress cannot give a reply on
