All India Congress Committee general secretary K.C. Venugopal accused the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI (M)] of hijacking the election machinery in Kerala, alleging an orchestrated attempt to suppress the polling percentage for the benefit of the Left Democratic Front (LDF). He claimed that around 5% of the polling booths witnessed technical snags in the electronic voting machines (EVMs), with 90% of such polling stations being “Congress strongholds”.
Venugopal criticized senior election officials, alleging that they sided with the LDF government to scuttle the process. He accused the Election Commission of failing to prevent widespread “double voting” and illegal removal of voters’ names from the lists, promising legal measures against responsible officials.