Presiding officers from 43 booths to be examined on election petition by K. Surendran.
Kochi: The Kerala High Court on Tuesday summoned the presiding officers of 43 electoral booths in Manjeswaram constituency on a plea filed by BJP candidate K. Surendran alleging bogus voting in the Assembly elections. Mr Surendran, who lost to Indian Union Muslim League candidate P.B. Abdul Razak for a margin of 89 votes, moved the High Court seeking to declare the election null and void. The declaration of the results had been materially affected by the improper reception of void votes, he argued.
Those whose names were included in the voters’ list were not alive on the date of the polling. But someone else voted in their names. It was reliably understood that those votes were falsely cast by impersonation at the behest of the UDF candidate and were recorded in his favour. Some of the voters included in the list were not in India or in Kerala on the polling date. But their votes were cast and 291 votes polled were bogus votes. Hence, he is entitled to be declared elected from the constituency, Mr Surendran submitted. The court will examine the first set of 10 presiding officers on Thursday. The polling officers, booth-level officers and the returning officer are also included in the witness list.
