Amid voter fraud row, Suresh Gopi reaches Thrissur

Thrissur: Amid protests and a police investigation on the voter fraud allegation, Thrissur MP Suresh Gopi arrived in the city on Wednesday. BJP activists accorded the acor-politician a welcome at the railway station.

This is the first time that Thrissur MP has arrived in his constituency since the arrest of two Keralite nuns in Chhattisgarh over charges of human trafficking and voter rolls controversy.

Suresh Gopi, who arrived at Thiruvananthapuram airport early this morning, reached Thrissur by Vande Bharat train. He visited the workers who were injured in Tuesday's CPM-BJP clash at the hospital. He did not answer the queries from reporters. "Thanks for helping so much," he told them before walking off.

He then held talks with the BJP's former state president, K Surendran, and other leaders at his office, before leaving for Kothamangalam to visit the family of a girl who died by suicide.

Meanwhile, Surendran challenged opponents to prove the alleged voter list manipulations. “I was the state president during the election period. There are clear answers regarding names being added to the voter list,” he said.

Police had initiated an investigation against Suresh Gopi following a complaint that he transferred his vote to Thrissur by submitting a fake affidavit ahead of the Lok Sabha elections. Documents also surfaced that revealed Suresh Gopi's brother, Subhash Gopi, had votes in both Thrissur and Kollam. 

A clash erupted on Tuesday following marches by the CPM to the BJP office and subsequently by the BJP to the CPM office, over the fake voter list controversy.

On Sunday, Congress's student wing, KSU, filed a police complaint alleging that Suresh Gopi had gone missing from the constituency. They had also announced plans to approach the High Court with a habeas corpus plea.

Got to court or EC, says Rajiv Chandrasekhar
Throwing his weight behind Union Minister of State for Petroleum, Natural Gas and Tourism, Kerala BJP president Rajeev Chandrasekhar on Wednesday said any illegality in connection with the election of a candidate during polls should be raised before the Election Commission or the courts, "instead of spreading lies to fool and provoke the public".

On Wednesday, Chandrasekhar questioned the veracity of the allegations, noting that these claims were being raised one and a half years after Suresh Gopi won the LS polls.

The BJP leader also said that such issues should be raised before the Election Commission or the courts by filing a complaint or an election petition.

"They do not do that. Instead, they attempt to provoke the public by spreading lies or diverting attention through their propaganda. It is all a show," he claimed.

He alleged that such dramas are being done by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi and Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan as elections approach.