Chennithala moves HC alleging 'postal ballot fraud' in LS polls
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Kochi: Leader of the Opposition in Kerala Assembly Ramesh Chennithala on Monday moved the Kerala High Court alleging a postal ballot fraud in Lok Sabha elections held in the state on April 23.
In his PIL, Chennithala demanded a probe alleging that a serious postal vote fraud has been practised by "pro-government" Police Association office bearers at the behest of top-level government functionaries in connection with Lok Sabha election.
He claimed the state's Additional Director General of Police, (Intelligence), submitted a report to the state police chief that the Association had collected postal ballots of officers on election duty through threats and intimidation and exercised votes by proxy against the wishes of the officers on election duty.
The ADGP in turn informed the Chief Electoral Officer about further enquiry and prosecution proceedings against those guilty officers, Chennithala claimed.
He sought a direction from the high court to the Election Commission of India to appoint an independent commission to inquire into the "postal ballot fraud" and launch criminal prosecution against those directly or indirectly involved in it, apart from initiating departmental action against them.
