1989 Postal Ballot Tampering: EC Orders Probe, CPI(M) G. Sudhakaran Retracts Claim (image:facebook.com/Comrade.G.Sudhakaran/)
Alappuzha: In a rather shocking admission, former Minister and senior CPI(M) leader G. Sudhakaran on Wednesday stated that postal votes were allegedly opened and altered in favour of the CPI(M) candidate in the Alappuzha constituency in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections. Following this, the Election Commission of India ordered for legal proceedings and conduct a detailed probe into the matter.
Sudhakaran made the controversial remark while inaugurating an event of former NGO Union leaders in Alappuzha.
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“In 1989, when K.V. Devadas contested as the CPI(M) candidate from the Alappuzha Lok Sabha constituency, postal ballots belonging to members of service organisations were collected and brought to the CPI(M) district committee office. I was the election committee secretary at the time. Around 15% of the voters had cast their ballots for the opposing candidate. We verified those ballots and altered them,” the Hindu quoted, as Sudhakaran is saying.
In the 1989 elections, Congress’s Vakkom Purushothaman won the seat by defeating K.V. Devadas for over 25,000 votes.
He has also said the even if the Election Commission (EC) filed a case against me in this matter, it will not be a problem.
Meanwhile, State Chief Electoral Officer Dr Rathan U Kelkar said that EC was looking CPI(M) leader’s statement with seriousness. He instructed the Alappuzha district election officer to “file an FIR, initiate a case and take immediate steps for a detailed investigation”. Following, a tahsildar in Alappuzha recorded Sudhakaran’s statement and is expected to submit report soon.
The act of altering the postal votes constitutes violation of the election rules, the Representation of the People Act, 1951, the Indian Penal Code and the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
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Though at first Sudhakaran told the media that he was not afraid of any action the Election Commission might take, by Thursday he retracted his statement and said, “My speech was mixed with imagination. I have never exercised a fake vote or made others do fake votes. I have never opened postal ballots. I wanted to make people alert,” Indian Express reports.
