Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Oommen Chandy has said that as many as 685 criminal cases had been registered against various LDF candidates as per the affidavits submitted along with the nomination papers for the Assembly elections.
Mr Chandy said in a statement here on Thursday that this statistics clearly showed who were preaching the politics of violence. A total of 152 cases have been registered against BJP-BDJS candidates while only 106 cases have been registered against UDF candidates. Of these, 617 cases were registered against CPM candidates, but only 79 against Congress candidates, the statement said.
There are six cases against Opposition Leader V.S. Achuthanandan. Of them, five are defamation cases while one is related to the Secretariat siege. However, as per the affidavit, there were no cases against the CM, the statement said.
There are 11 cases against CPM politburo member Pinarayi Vijayan, including the Lavalin cases registered in the CBI court in which he is the seventh accused. Of the other cases, eight are in Thiruvananthapuram first class magistrate court and one each in Payyannur and Thaliparamba courts.
The highest number of cases was registered against CPM candidate in Azhikode, Nikesh Kumar (57). He is followed by CPM candidate in Kazhakuttom, Kadakampally Surendran, with 45 cases and CPM candidate in Thalassery, A.N. Shamseer, with 35 cases.
The other candidates of the CPM with a large number of cases are: K.K. Lathika (Kuttiyadi)-32, V. Sivankutty (Nemom)-31, V. Salim (Aluva)-26, Binoy Kurian (Peravoor)-25, Antony John (Kothamangalam)-24, A.A. Rashid (Aruvikara)-22, E.P. Jayarajan (Mattanur)-21 and M. Swaraj (Tripunithura-20).
