No merit in postal ballots fraud allegation: Police to Kerala HC

The Kerala police submitted in the high court on Monday that there was "no merit" in the allegations of fraud in the postal ballots of service personnel in the April 23 Lok Sabha polls held in the state.

The Additional Director General of Police (Headquarters) made the submission in a counter to a petition filed by the Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, Ramesh Chennithala.

In his PIL, Chennithala has alleged that "pro-government" Police Association office-bearers collected the postal ballots of the personnel on poll duty through intimidation and exercised their franchise by proxy against their wishes.

"There is absolutely no merit in the allegations and the matter had been enquired and investigated as per the direction of the Chief Electoral Officer under the supervision of the state police chief," the counter said.

It also contended that since the allegations were with respect to the election process, the petition was not maintainable.

The public interest litigation (PIL) petition has been posted to June 10 for further hearing.

Congress leader Chennithala has alleged that a serious postal-vote fraud has been committed at the behest of top-level government functionaries and has demanded a probe by an independent panel appointed by the Election Commission (EC).

He has also claimed that the Kerala Additional Director General of Police (Intelligence) has submitted a report to the state police chief about the "fraud".

The Congress leader has sought a court direction to the EC for appointing the inquiry commission and launching criminal prosecution against those directly or indirectly involved in it, apart from departmental action.