Chounderikunnu is a locality, not a house: Wayanad residents to Anurag Thakur’s voter fraud allegations

Kalpetta: Residents of Chounderikunnu, a small village near Kaniyampatta in Wayanad, have dismissed BJP MP Anurag Thakur’s claim that over 4,000 voters from different religions were registered under a single house name in the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency.

Villagers say Thakur may have rushed to counter Congress leader Rahul Gandhi’s allegations of 'massive vote theft' without verifying facts. The Congress in the recent Lok Sabha polls retained the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat, with Priyanka Gandhi winning by over four lakh votes.

Thakur alleged that women from two different religions — Valliyamma and Mariyumma — were listed under the same house name 'Chounderikunnu,' implying they lived together. However, Mariyumma told the media that although she and Valliyamma are friends, their homes are nearly a kilometre apart.

“Many of us use ‘Chounderikunnu’ as the house name,” she said, amused by the controversy.

Wayanad District Panchayat president and local resident Samshad Marakkar explained that the name originated from 'Chamundeswarikunnu,' after Goddess Chamundeswari, and evolved over time. “For generations, people of all faiths here have used it along with their specific house names,” he said.

Taking a swipe at Thakur, Marakkar added, “Hindus and Muslims living in the same place may seem unusual to him, but for us it’s normal. We have Christians, Muslims, and Hindus in our village, and we’ll continue to live together.”

Kalpetta MLA T Siddique also called Thakur’s remarks “misleading and baseless.” He pointed out that another BJP allegation — that a voter named Maimoona in the Ernad Assembly segment was registered in three polling booths — had been disproved. In reality, there were three different women with the same name, each voting in her own polling area.

Siddique also demanded action against Thakur for spreading false information about Wayanad’s voters.