Thiruvananthapuram Nov 18 Congress General Secretary and MP K.C. Venugopal on Tuesday alleged that the CPI(M) in Kerala is emulating the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) model of democratic destruction by using the Special Identity Register (SIR) as a shield to suppress dissenting voices and deny fundamental voting rights.
He accused both parties of attempting to eliminate the consent and participation of those opposed to their political interests, driven by an acute fear of electoral defeat.
Venugopal said that filmmaker V.M. Vinu, a Congress-led United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate in the Kozhikode Corporation election, was denied voting rights solely because of his pro-Congress position.
“Despite having voted in previous elections, Vinu and his family were reportedly struck off the voters’ list,” an act that Venugopal termed a blatant violation of fundamental rights.
He further alleged that in Thiruvananthapuram Corporation’s Muttada ward, the CPI-M deliberately attempted to cancel the candidature of UDF nominee Vaishnavi Suresh by manipulating voter eligibility records to show she had no voting rights.
He hailed the Kerala High Court’s strong criticism of the incident, calling it a welcome intervention that upheld democratic values and exposed what he described as the CPI-M’s ‘vile political agenda’.
Venugopal claimed that the move against Vaishnavi was a calculated attempt to discourage young women from active political participation.
He mocked the CPI-M for boasting about elevating a young woman to the mayor's post while simultaneously trying to block a Congresswoman candidate through undemocratic means.
“The Election Commission’s insistence on imposing SIR in haste was aimed at aiding the BJP, while the CPI-M exploited the same system to facilitate bogus voting and selectively deny genuine voters,” said Venugopal who also criticised what he called the CPI-M’s “hypocritical secularism,” comparing it to the BJP’s tactics, and claimed that political intimidation by the party had led to the reported suicide of a Booth Level Officer (BLO) in Payyannur.
“Both the BJP and CPI-M pose a serious threat to the democratic framework through systematic voter suppression and political coercion,” added Venugopal.
--IANS
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