Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] district secretary M.V. Jayarajan has released an audio recording claiming that the United Democratic Front (UDF) and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) indulged in vote-trading during the recent local body elections.
Addressing the media, Mr. Jayarajan played a 17-minute phone conversation between two activists, allegedly of the Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) and the BJP, over the defeat of the UDF candidate in the Gopalpet ward of the Thalassery municipality.
He said BJP’s candidate M.R. Nijin got only nine votes in the ward, while IUML Independent Sandhya Prasad got 497 votes. Jisha Jayachandran of the CPI(M) won in the ward with a majority of 260 votes.
In the conversation, the ‘BJP activist’ could be heard inquiring the ‘IUML activist’ why the CPI(M) candidate had won despite they cast the vote for the IUML candidate. To a question if they had cast full votes, the BJP activist explained that it was clear as their candidate got only nine votes.
Details not disclosed
However, Mr. Jayarajan did not disclose the names or documents proving that those engaged in the conversation were BJP and IUML activists. He said the details would be released at the appropriate time.
Mr. Jayarajan alleged that vote trading took place in Thalai, Kommal, Nangarath, Balathil, Komath Para and Chettamkunnu wards.
