Satheesan seeks probe into ‘bad organisation of polls’
Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan has demanded a comprehensive probe by an independent agency into what he alleged was an unprecedented bad organisation of the Lok Sabha elections in Kerala.
Addressing the media at his o ce in North Paravur, Mr. Satheesan accused the Election Commission of having miserably failed in ensuring free and fair election in the State. In many places, voters had to queue up for hours, many returned after being fed up, and many who returned to the booths were not able to vote.
“Why was there so much time lag between voting of two voters in select places? Why polling had to be extended as late as 10 p.m. even in booths with not too many voters? Was there a deliberate attempt to delay voting during daytime? Did o cials deliberately sabotage voting, and was there any direction to that e¢ect? All these things should be investigated,” he said.
“Never before had electronic voting machines developed snags in such a widespread manner. Thirty minutes to an hour was lost in repairing them, but polling time was not extended to compensate for that lost time in voting. The Election Commission did nothing to address the shortcomings despite repeated complaints. Why did the Commission spent crores to maximise voter turnout when it couldn’t even make adequate arrangement? Polling o cials were unaccountable,” he added.
Clean voters’ list
Mr. Satheesan alleged that the Commission had even failed to publish a clean voters’ list removed of doubling of names, deceased voters, and voters who were not residing in an area for six months. He asked why no action was taken against block-level o cers who failed to report these shortcomings.
He shot down the query whether the complaint about the conduct of election was borne out of concern over impending defeat. “This is to ensure that such a badly managed election never again happens in Kerala,” he said.
Mr. Satheesan reiterated the allegation that LDF convenor E.P. Jayarajan had held talks with BJP Prabhari Prakash Javadekar with the knowledge of the Chief Minister.
“That’s why he didn’t blame Mr. Jayarajan over meeting Mr. Javadekar but pulled him up over his acquaintance with Nandakumar, a self-styled power broker. Why no complaint was made to the CPI(M) central leadership about Mr. Jayarajan’s relation with Nandakumar, and why Mr. Jayarajan was censored by the party State secretariat?” he asked.
The authorities have made elaborate security arrangements to guard the electronic voting machines used in Ernakulam and Chalakudy Lok Sabha constituencies at strongrooms set up at the Cochin University of Science and Technology (Cusat) and Union Christian College, Aluva, respectively.
On the Cusat campus, strongrooms have been set up at seminar complex, software block at the School of Engineering, laboratory block, and the nearby St. Joseph’s English Medium Higher Secondary School.
A multi-layered security arrangement is in place at both the centres, which are also the counting centres for the respective constituencies. The process of shifting EVMs from the constituencies was stretched beyond Friday midnight. The strongrooms will be guarded round-the-clock by Central and State police personnel.
The entire premises will also be under CCTV camera surveillance. The cameras will focus on the seal of the strongroom.
Senior police o cers will visit the counting centres to supervise security arrangements. The police will be on patrol duty outside the centres.