The first one was filed by advocate Praveen Kumar who is the Chief Election Agent of Indian National Congress (INC) candidate, Shafi Parambil, who is standing for election from the Vadakara constituency.
The Lok Sabha election in the constituency, which is scheduled to take place on April 26, is expected to be a close race between Parambil and CPI(M)’s KK Shailaja.
Shailaja was the Health Minister of Kerala during the previous left government and had received widespread acclaim for her tackling of Nipah virus outbreak in 2018 and COVID in 2020.
In his petition, Kumar claimed that CPI(M) cadres cast bogus votes in every election in the constituency in the names of persons who are dead or abroad or working elsewhere. He also alleged that there are polling officers and police officers who have affiliations with the CPI(M) party.
It was contended that unless the entire polling process is videographed as per the circulars issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI), fairness cannot be ensured in the upcoming polls.
Kumar also pointed out that a country bomb was set off recently in the area which according to police reports was allegedly done by CPI(M) workers.
This shows that there is a high chance that voters and rival party workers could be attacked on the day of the election, he argued.
Therefore, he urged the Court to order the ECI and the Chief Electoral Officer, Kerala, to deploy central forces in the 1,186 polling booths at the Vadakara constituency.
He also sought orders to video record the entire polling process in the 1,186 booths without compromising the anonymous nature of voting.
Source: Barandbench
