Kochi: Five voters have appeared before the Kerala High Court and denied the allegation by Manjeswaram BJP candidate K. Surendran that they were not in India during the election. Mr Surendran had alleged bogus voting in the election and stated that the same had led to his defeat. Mr Surendran lost by a slender margin of 89 votes in the Assembly polls to Mr Abdul Rassaf of Indian Union Muslim League.
The central government on Monday had submitted that out of 26 voters listed as witnesses, only six persons were present in India on the election day. Twenty voters were abroad on the polling day, it was stated. According to Mr Surendran, many persons who were included in the voters’ list were not alive on the date of polling. However, votes were polled in their names in the polling booth. "It was reliably understood that those votes were falsely cast by impersonation at the behest of the UDF candidate and it had been recorded in his favour," Mr Surendran had argued.
