Dismissing the Opposition charges of rampant fraud on voters’ list, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Tuesday said that there was no organised move behind multiple entries of voter names in the electoral rolls.
Speaking to reporters here, Mr. Vijayan said that Leader of the Opposition Ramesh Chennithala had raised complaints of voter fraud citing multiple entries on the list, which were added by the Congressmen. “The woman, referred by the Leader of the Opposition, whose name was found to have been included on the voters’ list five times is a Congress activist. Her name was added to the electoral roll by the Congress party workers. The Election Commission has stated these kinds of things had happened earlier. Let the Election Commission examine it and take necessary action. There was no complaint of an organised move behind it,” the Chief Minister said.
On the Nair Service Society (NSS) criticising the Left Democratic Front (LDF), Mr. Vijayan said that the government had done nothing that qualified rebuke. “The NSS has its own stance. They mostly maintained equidistance. It also sometimes adopted right distance policy. Those levelling allegations should realise that people will not accept baseless criticism against the government,” he said.
Different things
The Chief Minister said that the LDF was committed to protecting the faith of believers of all religions. He said that religious belief and theocracy were two different things and there was a need for everyone, including believers, to join hands to defeat communal forces. “Actions of Sangh Parivar organisations have created insecurity among minority communities. However, organisations like Jamaat-e-Islami and the Social Democratic Party of India are trying to exploit the situation. There will be no compromise on majority and minority communalism,” the Chief Minister said.
Rejection of papers
The rejection of nomination papers filed by Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-National Democratic Alliance candidates in Thalassery, Guruvayoor and Devikulam had led to fresh allegations of tacit understanding between parties. Mr. Vijayan said that people would not believe the papers were rejected due to carelessness. “There is some kind of agenda being worked out. If people suspect it will help the United Democratic Front (UDF), they could not be blamed. The Congress had received BJP votes in the past. There is a mutual agreement between the two parties,” the Chief Minister said, adding that Congress leader Rahul Gandhi was a gentleman but the policies of the Congress and the BJP were the same.
He said that the Congress party was compromising on its secular ideology. “The Congress is in decline and its leaders, including women, are deserting the party. It is rejecting secularism and warming to communal forces.”
