New Delhi, Oct 23 (Inditop.com) The Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) Friday criticised the Election Commission for directing the state government to shift Kannur district collector following complaints by the Congress of irregularities in the Nov 7 by-poll process.
“The Election Commission is acting at the behest of the Congress party,” said CPI-M Kerala state secretary Pinarayi Vijayan, who is in the national capital to attend the party’s central committee meeting which started Friday.
Alleging irregularities during the bypoll process in Kannur assembly constituency, the Congress-led delegation led by MP K. Sudhakaran Tuesday asked Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla to remove all officials, including the district collector, to ensure a free and fair election Nov 7.
“The commission crossed all its limit by giving such directions. It is anti-democratic. It should not be reduced as a doll at the hands of the Congress,” Vijayan told reporters here.
Early in the day, the commission directed Kerala government to shift Kannur Collector V. K. Balakrishnan and asked Chief Secretary Neela Gangadharan to submit a panel of three Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officers who have not been promoted from the state civil service, to choose his replacement.
Rebutting the demand for deploying central forces in Kannur, Kerala Chief Minister V.S. Achuthanandan said here he would comment on the allegations by the Congress after studying the Election Commission’s directive properly.
Winning the Kannur seat has become an issue of prestige for both the LDF and the Congress-led opposition United Democratic Front (UDF).
The Congress has fielded A.P. Abdulla Kutty, who till early this year was a two-time Lok Sabha member of the CPI-M, while the Marxist party has fielded a heavy weight candidate in M.V. Jayarajan, who had won from the nearby Edakadu constituency in 1996 and 2001.
Kutty was booted out of the CPI-M ahead of the May general elections for violating party discipline.
The only time the ruling LDF has won the Kannur seat was way back in 1977.
