THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Congress leadership in Thrissur has formally filed a complaint against Union Minister Suresh Gopi, alleging that the BJP leader submitted false information in his affidavit ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.The complaint was lodged with the office of the Thrissur City Police Commissioner. Former MP and senior Congress leader T. N. Prathapan, who filed the complaint, alleged that Suresh Gopi falsely claimed in the affidavit that he and his family had been residing in Thrissur for six months before the elections. “The information given in the affidavit was a lie. He was living here at that time, Prathapan alleged.The Congress leader stated that according to rules, a voter must reside in the constituency for at least six months before the election to be included on the voters’ list. However, Suresh Gopi was not present in Thrissur during the specified period and submitted false information to the Election Commission.Prathapan mentioned that a criminal complaint has been lodged against the Thrissur MP and noted that the Congress had previously brought this issue before the Election Commission, but no action had been initiated on their complaint.Meanwhile, Kerala General Education Minister V Sivankutty urged the Election Commission on Tuesday to conduct a re-election in the Thrissur Lok Sabha constituency due to reports of widespread manipulation of the voters’ list.Suresh Gopi, who is currently Minister of State for Petroleum and Tourism, won the seat by a substantial margin of 74,000 votes, defeating CPI’s V S Sunil Kumar and Congress candidate K Muraleedharan in a tight three-way contest.Sivankutty claimed that Gopi’s opponents within the BJP pointed out the possibility of the addition of 30,000 to 60,000 votes to the electoral roll. Reports indicate that eight to fifteen votes were added in several apartments in the district.A flat owner in Thrissur district had filed a complaint alleging that nine fake votes were registered using her address without her knowledge. The irregularities came to light in flat No. 4 C , Capital Village Apartments in Poonkunnam, where the owner, Prassana, said she is the only person in the house who votes in Thrissur, and the rest of the adult members of her family have votes in their ancestral village.CPM workers alleged that similar voter list irregularities have taken place in the flats in the area. They demanded a thorough probe into the voter list manipulations.On Monday, CPI leader V S Sunil Kumra, who lost to Gopi in the last Lok Sabha polls, also raised allegations of voter list manipulation. The former minister stated that he would approach the court with evidence to prove the alleged manipulations in the voters’ list.
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