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Even as the campaign drums fell silent, the rancorous fight between the major political coalitions in Pathanamathitta continued unabated on Thursday.
The episode began to unfold with United Democratic Front candidate Anto Antony staging a protest at the district Collectorate here, alleging that the Left Democratic Front leaked the list of polling officials on duty in the Konni Assembly segment.
“This list, which should be handed over only during the distribution of polling materials and should remain identifiable solely to the designated officers, has been widely circulated across various WhatsApp groups for at least a couple of days now. This is part of an attempt to commit election fraud,” alleged Mr. Antony.
He also accused the election authority of taking no action on his earlier complaints regarding alleged violations of the election protocol by Left Democratic Front candidate T.M. Thomas Isaac.
Taking a serious note of the development, District Collector and Election Officer S. Prem Krishnan placed Yadu Krishnan, a Lower Division Clerk with Konni Taluk Office, under suspension pending inquiry. The suspension was based on the finding that the document, which had been sent through official mail, had made its entry into a personal chat group from the said official’s phone.
Commenting on the development, the District Collector said the issue was resolved as soon as it came to his notice. The list of polling officials on duty was completely revamped and a committee constituted to find out the involvement of other officials.
“Action will be initiated against all those who circulated the official document through social media. A police complaint has been filed in this regard,” the official said.
The LDF, on its part, also levelled allegations against the UDF candidate, accusing him of manufacturing one lakh fake election identity cards. Based on a complaint lodged by LDF chief election agent Raju Abraham, the Collector is slated to seek an explanation from Mr. Antony.
Later in the day, the National Democratic Alliance also came up with a complaint against the LDF, accusing the coalition of using Kudumbasree and Harithakarma Sena workers in violation of the protocol. According to a complaint filed by NDA chief election agent V.A. Arun Prakash, Kudumbasree workers were made to stand together with the LDF candidate and a photograph of the same was being widely circulated through pamphlets and newspaper ads.
Similarly, a few members of the Harithakarma Sena under Pandalam municipality had campaigned for Dr. Isaac wearing their official uniform. A photograph of the same was being widely circulated through social media, it added.
