Kerala: NDA nominee alleges BJP vote leak in Devikulam

Sandeep Thomas / TNN / Updated: May 8, 2021, 08:19 IST

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After a major setback in Devikulam constituency in the district, the NDA candidate alleged that he didn’t get a single vote from BJP in the assembly election despite the Tamil Nadu-model AIADMK-BJP alliance.

Kerala: NDA nominee alleges BJP vote leak in Devikulam

NDA candidate S Ganeshan during poll campaign

IDUKKI: After a major setback in Devikulam constituency in the district, the NDA candidate alleged that he didn’t get a single vote from BJP in the assembly election despite the Tamil Nadu-model AIADMK-BJP alliance.
The alliance fielded two candidates, in Idukki and Palakkad, under the NDA banner. But the alliance candidate S Ganeshan secured only 4,717 votes.The Tamil Nadu-based political party tried for a political space in Devikulam, where the majority of voters are of Tamil origin, but it failed.
“In the previous assembly election, BJP got 9,592 votes in Devikulam. Where has the BJP votes gone this time? LDF got an unexpected victory with the help of some groups. I got only AIADMK votes. The AIADMK-BJP alliance was a big failure in Devikulam,” said Ganeshan.
But BJP Idukki district general secretary V N Suresh refuted the allegation. “The alliance candidate has got only BJP votes and didn’t get any AIADMK votes. As per the alliance, the seat was for AIADMK and they fielded their candidate. But the nomination was rejected due to their issues, and they supported an independent candidate.”

AIADMK state secretary G Shobakumar said that the less number of votes in Devikulam shows that the candidate didn’t get BJP votes in Devikulam. “R M Dhanalakshmi had filed nomination from Devikulam and Naseema Sharafudeen was fielded in Mannarkkad in Palakkad district. After the nomination of AIADMK candidate was rejected, AIADMK supported independent candidate Ganeshan, who contested on NDA ticket. Sharafudeen got 10,243 votes and it was the best performance for the party. The AIADMK central committee meeting will decide further on the alliance with BJP in Kerala,” said Shobakumar.
It was an experiment based on Tamil Nadu-model where AIADMK was in alliance with NDA. The papers of AIADMK Devikulam candidate Dhanalakshmi and two other dummy candidates were rejected during scrutiny.
In 2016, AIADMK candidate Dhanalakshmi bagged 11,613 votes in Devikulam and came third. BJP candidate N Chandran received 9,592 votes. CPM leader S Rajendran won the election with 49,510 votes against UDF candidate A K Mani who got 43,728 votes.

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