Kerala leader slams poll surveys by media

Kerala's opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has alleged that the media is siding with the ruling party to destroy the opposition. He alleged that election surveys by the media were a deliberate attempt to stifle the opposition's progress.

Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala opposition leader Ramesh Chennithala has slammed the election surveys of media. He alleged that the surveys were a deliberate attempt to stifle the UDF's progress and that the media was showing the benevolence of the Rs 200 crore advertisement given by the government in the next phase of the elections.

Chennithala alleged that the media was playing a vicious role in siding with the ruling party to destroy the opposition. He said the UDF did not trust the survey and rejected it. At the same time, Chennithala alleged that the media is trying to whitewash the anti-people government and misuse opinion polls to subvert the will of the people.

Chennithala said that Chief Minister Vijayan and Sitaram Yechury have rejected the statement of Minister Kadakampally Surendran on the Sabarimala issue, wherein he expressed 'regret' over the incidents at the shrine. He said that it has become clear that the government's stand on the issue would not change. He demanded that the government should withdraw its affidavit from the Supreme Court if it was sincere and that the government should state its position on the issue.

Chennithala further alleged that the CPM and the BJP are spending huge amounts of money on the election campaign. The source of this money should be investigated, he demanded. Chennithala also said that it was suspicious that the government had not cancelled the deep sea fishing contracts.

Chennithala also denied allegations made by the UDF candidate of the 2016 election, V Surendran Pillai, that vote sale took place in the Nemom constituency in 2016.

"V Surendran Pillai left the Democratic Kerala Congress and joined the JDU during the 2016 election. The UDF seat was given to the JDU. But people did not like that Surendran Pillai was competing in alternative parties. That is why he lost there," said Chennithala.

Chennithala said he informed the Election Commission that more than two lakh fake voters have been identified in 66 constituencies in the state. Information on 69 constituencies will be released tomorrow. A total of more than 3.5 lakh fake voters were detected in the state. Chennithala said he would also lodge a complaint to Central Election Commission.

Meanwhile, the State election commission has completed the scrutiny of nomination papers for the Assembly polls. After the examination, there are 1,061 candidates in 140 constituencies in Kerala. The scrutiny of 2,180 applications received till March 19th, the last day for submission of papers, took place on Saturday. There is time to withdraw the nomination papers till March 22. Only then will the final picture of the election become clear.