Lok Sabha 2019: List of bogus voting instances confirmed in Kerala so far

More than a week since the state of Kerala went to polls for the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, both the United Democratic Front (UDF), which is the main opposition front in the state and the ruling Left Democratic Front (LDF) have come out with visuals accusing party workers from the opposite camp of casting fake votes.

It all began when the Congress party, released visuals of three women casting fake notes in the Kasaragod Lok Sabha constituency. Following this, visuals of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) workers casting fake votes in the Kasaragod and the Kannur constituency were released.

Here is a list of the various incidents of fake votes reported in the state so far, along with their details:

1) Bogus votes by three women in the Kasaragod constituency

On April 27, the Congress party took to Facebook to release visuals from booth number 19 at the Pilathara school in Kannur, which comes under the Kasaragod Lok Sabha constituency. The visuals, which were captured through the webcam in the booth, showed three women casting their votes twice in the booth on April 23. The three women, who cast fake votes, were later identified as Padmini, NP Saleena and Sumayya. While NP Saleena was a panchayat member of the CPI(M), Sumayya is a polling agent and former panchayat member of the CPI(M). The three have been charged under IPC Sections 171 A,C,D and F for impersonation and bogus voting among others.

Ever since the visuals were released, 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’.

2)  Bogus votes by two IUML supporters in Kasaragod

Kasaragod District Collector D Sajith Babu on Wednesday confirmed that two persons had cast bogus votes in the constituency during the Lok Sabha polls held on April 23rd. The two persons who cast their votes were identified as Muhammed Fayiz and Hashiq. Although reports stated that the two persons were IUML supporters, Kasaragod District collector, D Sajith Babu told TNM that they are yet to confirm the political affiliation.

Muhammed Fayiz is reported to have cast his vote twice - once in booth number 69 and once in booth number 70, whereas Hashiq polled twice in booth number 69. The allegation was confirmed after checking visuals from webcasting in the polling booths.

3) IUML workers casting bogus votes in Kannur

The CPI(M) on Wednesday released visuals of bogus voting at booth number 166 in the Pamburuthi area in Kannur district, which is considered to be a stronghold of the IUML.

According to reports, the persons who cast fake votes were identified as Anas K, Mubasheer M, KM Arshad, TV Musthafa, all of whom are said to be IUML workers. The visuals released by CPI(M) reveal that the four of them cast their vote twice in the same booth.