Antony accuses Lefties of largescale bogus voting in Kerala
The Lok Sabha poll results have demonstrated the erosion of
the ruling Left Democratic
Front in Kerala, giving a clear warning to it to change its
policies and
style of functioning, state Opposition leader A K Antony said.
Antony said the United Democratic Front has established a clear majority in 81 of the 140 assembly segments and 11 of the 20 Lok Sabha
constituencies.
"We have scored about 300,000 votes more than
the LDF," he said.
The Bharatiya Janata Party also has increased its share of votes. This proves that the erosion was all from the LDF's votebank, Antony claimed.
He said the severe setback to the LDF was despite
an 'addition of 350,000-odd voters by it', and 'total
misuse of the state machinery'. He also accused the LDF
of resorting to largescale bogus voting. This was clear from the improbably high 98 per cent voter turnout in some areas.
In the three assembly by-elections held in Mala, Vaikom and
Chathannoor, the UDF brought down the LDF majority from 14,594
to 5,486, he said.
In Alappuzha, which Congress
nominee V M Sudheeran bagged, the UDF had clear leads in all the seven
assembly segments. Even in Mararikulam, where Communist Party of India-Marxist
leader V S Achuthanandan lost the assembly election, reportedly
due to infighting, the UDF had a clear majority, Antony claimed.
The Congress leader said the unity in Congress was a major factor
for the success of the UDF. He held all party leaders in the state responsible for the earlier infighting.
UNI
Elections '98
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