CPI's Sunil Kumar intensifies charges of electoral malpractice in Thrissur Lok Sabha race

Thrissur (Kerala) | Senior CPI leader V S Sunil Kumar, the Left candidate from the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat in the 2024 general election, on Monday intensified his allegations of voter list manipulation against the BJP, linking it to their landmark victory in the central Kerala constituency.

Actor-turned-BJP candidate Suresh Gopi, now serving as Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Tourism, won the Thrissur Lok Sabha seat by a significant margin of over 74,000 votes, defeating Kumar and Congress candidate K Muraleedharan in a closely fought three-cornered contest.

A former state minister, Sunil Kumar, said he would approach the court with evidence to prove the alleged manipulation carried out by the saffron party in the voters' list to ensure the victory of Gopi from the Thrissur segment.

He said that although he had raised the issue with the Election Commission, the body instructed him to submit the complaint as a formal declaration--just as they had advised Congress leader Rahul Gandhi to pursue the matter further.

The declaration is prepared in such a way that if any inaccuracies are found in the matter raised, the signatory is prepared to face imprisonment, he told a TV channel.

The CPI leader stated that he had maintained from the outset that there was clear manipulation in the electoral roll, which facilitated Gopi's victory in the Thrissur constituency.

Referring to some media investigation reports in this regard, he said there were instances of adding the names of nine voters in the list from a house here without the knowledge of the original households.

"The BJP illegally added thousands of voters from other constituencies to the electoral roll. The right to elect Thrissur's Lok Sabha MP belongs exclusively to the legitimate voters of the Thrissur parliamentary constituency," Kumar said.

He added that he would petition both the Election Commission of India and the courts to seek legal redressal for this matter.

Besides ruling CPI and CPI (M), the Congress has also been raising voters' list manipulation charges against BJP and Gopi for some time.

Meanwhile, General Education Minister V Sivankutty on Monday continued to take a dig at Union Minister Suresh Gopi for his reported absence from the constituency for some time and sought to know whether he has resigned from the saffron party.

He also alleged that Gopi may not be coming out of fear of voters' list manipulation allegations.