Kottayam: UDF candidate for the Puthuppally bypoll, Chandy Oommen, has initiated a legal move against alleged omission of several names from the voters’ list. Chandy, son of late chief minister Oommen Chandy, on Monday alleged that hundreds of voters have been dropped from the final list published by the election commission.
He has sent a legal notice to the commission through lawyer Vimal Ravi.
Chandy alleged that the applications submitted after August 10 have been rejected citing technical reasons. The election commission’s argument is that the list has names of applicants whose e-roll update procedures have been finished till August 17. The commission processed the applications received till August 10.
“This is violation of a voter’s right to participate in the election process,” the Congress leader said.
Chandy, in his legal notice, urged the poll panel to revise the list by including all eligible voters. He said he would move ahead with legal action if his concerns are not addressed.
The bypoll, necessitated by the death of Oommen Chandy, will take place on September 5. Votes will be counted on September 8. Chandy faces CPM’s Jaick C Thomas and BJP’s Lijin Lal in the bypoll.
As per the final list published by the election commission, Puthuppally has a total of 1,76,412 voters. This includes 957 first-time voters and 100 voters who have been shifted from other constituencies.
There are 86,131 men, 90,277 women and four transgender people in the list. The voters’ list available on the election commission’s website.
