Postal ballot breach remark: Kerala senior CPI(M) leader booked

Alappuzha/Kerala: A case under various provisions of the Representation of People (RP) Act and the IPC was registered on Friday against CPI(M) veteran G Sudhakaran in connection with his recent remarks claiming that postal ballots were opened during the 1989 Alappuzha Lok Sabha election.

Sudhakaran, in a purported video aired on TV channels, can be heard making the controversial remarks during a gathering of former NGO Union leaders here on Wednesday.

It prompted the Election Commission to launch a probe into the matter, and the CPI(M) veteran's statement was recorded on Thursday by EC officials.

Following that, Sudhakaran, at another event here on Thursday, claimed that what he had said earlier was not completely true and he had added something extra to it from his "imagination".

"Nothing like that ever happened. No ballot boxes were opened, and no ballots were ever tampered with. I have never taken part in anything of that sort, and I have never done any bogus voting.

"I have also not paid anyone to do bogus voting. What I said on that day was only meant as a small warning to those doing such activities and to let them know that we are aware of what they are doing," he had said.

Despite the claim, the police on Friday filed an FIR against him under sections 128 (maintenance of secrecy of voting), 135(removal of ballot papers from polling station), 135A(booth capturing) and 136(other offences and penalties) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 and sections 465(punishment for forgery), 468(forgery for cheating) and 471(using forged document as genuine) of the IPC.