Wayanad voters refute Anurag Singh Thakur’s fraud claims

Kozhikode: Several voters in Wayanad rejected BJP leader Anurag Thakur's allegations of voter list fraud in the constituency. On Wednesday, Thakur held a news conference in Delhi and claimed that 4,246 voters of different religions were registered at the same house in Wayanad, which is represented by Priyanka Gandhi and was earlier represented by Rahul Gandhi.Among those named, two voters from Chaunderi in Kalpetta assembly segment said Thakur's claims were completely false. He had cited them as examples of people from different religions living in the same house.Thakur had cited the case of Valliyamma (72) daughter of Somasundaram and Mariyam, daughter of Abdul Karim, as examples of voters of multiple religions registered in house number ‘o/ Chaunderi' under booth 41 of Kalpetta. Both families added that Valliyamma and Mariyam, both elderly people, were living in separate houses."Chaunderi is the name of our village. We were born and raised here. Many in the village use the place name as their house name. That doesn't mean we live in one house," said retired revenue department official K Vadivelu, who is the son-in-law of Valliyamma. Valliyamma's daughter said that her mother had voted in all elections. "Mariyam is my mother's childhood friend. She belongs to a different community and lives in another house at Keeripettakunnu. I don't know how this allegation cropped up," she said.Mariyam, whose house is located 1km away, rejected Thakur's allegation. "Valliyamma is living in her house and I have my own," she said.Also two other voters in Thiruvambady assembly constituency – Shahina and Madhavan V T – who were cited by BJP as examples of voters of multiple religions registered in the house named Vallikattummal in booth 24 rejected the allegation."There are several families in ward-18 with the house name Vallikattummal. There are around 150 families with the same house name and they belong to all religions. For instance in our ward there is Vilasini, Mary, Shabeer and Gopalan and their house name is Vallikattummal," said Shahina. Madhavan, who lives 3km away from Shahina's home, rejected BJP's allegation.Thakur had alleged that there were 20,438 duplicate voters in Wayanad. To substantiate his allegation, he mentioned Maimoona from Ernad assembly constituency, claiming she was registered as a voter in booths 135, 115, and 152. However, the three women named Maimoona are different individuals living in separate panchayats.Maimoona of booth 115 said that her father's name was Vellipadan Muhammed and her husband was Mangalan Alavi. " I voted in the booth at Thamburankunnungal all these years and have not voted anywhere else," she said. The other two Maimoonas also refuted Thakur's charges.Kalpetta MLA T Siddique rejected Thakur's allegations and accused Election Commission (EC) of providing BJP with access to a digital electoral roll. Siddique asked whether EC, which served a notice to Rahul Gandhi over a news conference, would take action against Thakur for making false accusations. Siddique said Thakur has committed a criminal offence by portraying real voters as fake and asked whether EC could register a case against him.