Kerala BJP Faces Allegations of Election Fund Irregularities, Leadership Launches Probe
Chandrasekhar is expected to arrive in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday
BJP in Kerala, headed by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, has launched a "secret" inquiry into allegations of election fund fraud, with the party leadership suspecting that party members themselves may be behind the alleged irregularities, according to local media reports. The leadership is also reportedly planning action to identify those leaking confidential information.
Chandrasekhar is expected to arrive in Thiruvananthapuram on Saturday.
Audio recordings had earlier emerged as alleged evidence of election fund irregularities within the BJP. One recording reportedly contains a representative of a company that supplied party flags confirming that the state secretary received a commission of Rs. 31 lakh for the purchase of flags.
Another audio recording obtained by local media allegedly features a state committee member discussing how Rs. 16 lakh could be siphoned off by creating a fake bill in the name of a cutout used during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's roadshow. In the recording, the representative of the company that supplied the flags allegedly says that the state secretary had been paid Rs. 31 lakh as an advance commission.
The representative claims that the remaining Rs. 4.65 lakh was supposed to be paid after the elections, but that no one is now answering calls. Although the Centre had supplied flags free of cost, the state leadership had also purchased flags independently during the election period, according to the report.
The second recording allegedly relates to irregularities involving cutouts put up during Narendra Modi's roadshow in Thiruvananthapuram during the final phase of the campaign. Cutouts of different sizes were printed for the event. The recording allegedly features a state committee member who was part of the election publicity committee discussing the alleged diversion of funds by creating a fake bill in the name of the cutouts.
The recordings have reportedly emerged as alleged evidence of the irregularities mentioned in a complaint submitted to the BJP's national organisation general secretary. Despite this, the BJP leadership is maintaining that there was no fraud and is reportedly avoiding an inquiry, the report claims.
