More trouble seems to be coming in the direction of CPI(M) panchayat member NP Saleena, who has been found guilty of casting fake vote at booth number 19 in the Kannur district on April 23. Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) of the state Teeka Ram Meena, on Tuesday, recommended to State Election Commissioner V Bhaskaran that NP Saleena be disqualified as the member of Cheruthazham panchayat in Kannur.
Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF), which is the main opposition front in Kerala, on Saturday had released a webcast feed showing some voters casting their vote twice at booth number 19 at the Pilathara school in Kannur, which comes under the Kasaragod Lok Sabha constituency.
Apart from NP Saleena, the other two women who cast fake votes, have been identified as Padmini and Sumayya. While NP Saleena is a panchayat member of the CPI(M), Sumayya is a polling agent and former panchayat member of the party.
According to a report by Asianet News, the CEO informed that it has been found that both Saleena and Sumayya are not voters of booth number 19 and that it is yet to find out whether they have cast their votes in their respective booths. And as far as Padmini is concerned, the CEO stated that they have evidence to prove that she came to cast her vote twice in the same polling booth.
The CEO has also instructed the police to register a case against the three women and has recommended that NP Saleena step down as the panchayat member and face the trial.
Meanwhile, the CPI(M) state secretary, Kodiyeri Balakrishnan in a press meet on Tuesday lashed out at Teeka Ram Meena by stating that the CEO is taking sides by being part of the false campaign of the UDF. Kodiyeri said that the CEO did not take the statement or seek an explanation from the three women in the case. The CPI(M) State Secretary went on to state that the CPI(M) will take legal recourse.
Ever since the Congress party members released the visuals from booth number 19, the CPI(M) and its leaders have been countering the allegations by stating that those are not ‘bogus’ votes and instead, they are ‘open votes’.
The visuals showed a woman clad in a peach sari casting votes twice at the booth and later she can be seen trying to rub the ink from her finger after casting her vote. Another video showed a woman wearing blue dupatta handing over an identification card to a person standing near the queue, before heading towards the EVM machine to cast a vote.