UDF to replicate Thrikkakara model in Puthuppally to prevent bogus voting

Kottayam: The Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) is trying to replicate what it did last year in Thrikkakara to prevent possible bogus voting in the Puthuppally assembly bypoll to be held on September 5.

The opposition front has prepared a detailed list of the voters who have passed away and those who have confirmed that they will not be able to come to vote this time.

The list, prepared with inputs from each of the 185 booths, will be handed to the polling officers of respective areas.

“No one needs to come to Puthuppally on September 5 for bogus voting. If at all someone dares to do so, they should remember what happened at Thrikkakara,” Opposition Leader V D Satheesan, who heads the UDF’s campaign in Puthuppally, told a press meet in Pambady on Sunday.

He was referring to the arrest of an alleged CPM supporter in Thrikkakara for trying to cast a vote in the name of another person.

“If at all some presiding officers decide to help the CPM by facilitating bogus voting, then they will be in trouble,” Satheesan warned.

Communist Marxist Party (CMP) leader C P John coordinated the works to prepare the list of voters whose names could be misused in the election.

He said the UDF had tried the same method in Thrikkakara and it was very effective. UDF’s Uma Thomas won the Thrikkakara bypoll by over 25,000 votes.

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 shifted from other constituencies.

There are 86,131 men, 90,277 women and four transgender people on the list.