Kannur, April 14: The Congress’s allegations about a Marxist conspiracy to sabotage Wednesday’s Assembly election process turned out to be hollow, with polling passing off peacefully all over the State. Some incidents of violence and electoral malpractices were reported but the Election Commission officials said polling remained by and large peaceful.
Minutes before the close of voting, Congress’s sitting MLA and candidate in Kannur AP Abdullakutty complained that he was manhandled by a group of CPI(M) workers at a booth in Munderi in his constituency. He said the gang damaged his car and also manhandled his gunmen, adding that he escaped only because of the help of the policemen present there.
The Election Commission had deployed a large number of security personnel including those from Central forces in Kannur district, known as the Marxist heartland of Kerala, on the assumption that 1,251 of the total 3,703 booths identified as sensitive. Auxiliary security measures like video-surveillance had also been implemented in Kannur.
“There is no such problem in Kannur. Some people with vested interests had tried to spread a scare unnecessarily. The Central forces have nothing to do here and they can go back with the memories of enjoying Kerala’s beautiful nature,” Home Minister Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, also a Politbureau member of the CPI(M), said in his constituency, Thalassery.
After voting in a booth near his home in Pinarayi, Kannur, Kerala CPI(M) secretary Pinarayi Vijayan alleged that the Congress and the UDF had indulged in distribution of liquor and money. “However, it is now clear that they have not been able to damage the credibility and victory prospects of the Left,” he said.
But senior Congress leader and Union Minister of State for Home Mullappally Ramachandran said in Kannur on Wednesday morning that law and order situation in Kannur during election had always been a matter of concern and that it remained so in this election also.
About 80,000 security personnel had been deployed in the State for ensuring free, fair and peaceful polling on Wednesday. As many as 45 companies of police from outside the State and 40 companies of Kerala Police were deployed.
The police took one person into custody for bogus voting at Iringappuram in Guruvayur constituency in Thrissur district on the basis of a complaint from LDF’s booth agents. A police official suffered minor injuries in the stone-pelting that occurred following allegations of efforts to cast bogus votes in Kathiroor, Kannur.
The police lobbed stun grenades in Thalipparambu in Kannur district following a minor clash between workers of the CPI(M) and Muslim League. Minor incidents were also reported from Kalyassery in Kannur, Alambady in Kasaragod, Kolazhy and Erumappetty.
——–Agencies