Case Filed Against BJP’s K Surendran for ‘Influencing’ Namesake During 2021 Kerala Polls

A case was on Monday registered against president of BJP’s Kerala unit K Surendran by Kasargod police for allegedly influencing a namesake candidate to withdraw his nomination during 2021 state assembly election.

The complaint was filed by CPI(M) candidate V V Rameshan, who had contested from Manjeshwaram constituency in Kasargod, on court’s direction into the matter.

The case was filed against Surendran under Sections 171B, E of the IPC.

K Sundara, a BSP candidate of Manjeswaram constituency in Kasaragod district and a namesake of Surendran, had on March 22 this year withdrawn his nomination papers and extended support to the BJP. Surendran, however, lost the election.

The similarity between the duo’s names is said to have helped Sundara garner 467 votes in the constituency as an independent during the 2016 Assembly polls in which Surendran had lost to IUML nominee P B Abdul Razzaq by 89 votes.

Sundara has now alleged that he was given Rs 2.5 lakh for withdrawing the nomination against Surendran in 2021 Kerala assembly elections. “The BJP leaders asked me to withdraw my candidature. I had asked for Rs 15 lakh but they gave me Rs 2.5 lakh only and a mobile phone worth Rs 15,000. I had also asked for a wine shop in Karnataka if they were able to win the seat. But once the election was over no one bothered to call me,” Sundara told the media.

However, the BJP has dismissed the allegations as baseless and said it was a conspiracy against the party.

“We did not offer him anything to withdraw his nomination. He had publicly explained why he withdrew his candidature. Now he has changed his stance. It seems like someone is coercing him. We doubt that he is raising such allegations due to the pressure from CPI(M) and the IUML,” PTI quoted BJP district president K Sreekanth as saying.

The CPI(M) has accused the BJP of using large amounts of black money in the assembly polls. IUML’s A K M Ashraf had won the seat with 65,758 votes, while Surendran managed to bag 65,013 votes. Rameshan got 40,639 votes.

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