The Museum police have arrested four Youth Congress (YC) workers on suspicion of counterfeiting the Election Commission of India (ECI) voter ID cards to validate “make-believe” voters to tilt the electoral field in favour of their faction in the recently concluded online YC organisational polls.
The police identified the suspects as Abhi Vikram, Feny, Binil Babu and Vilas Krishna. Nearly 7.5 lakh purported YC workers voted in the elections that saw Rahul Mamkoottathil emerge as the State president.
The police have also summoned Mr. Mamkoottathil for questioning. They have confiscated several digital devices, including pen drives, mobile phones, and laptop computers, from the suspects’ custody.
Investigators have also reportedly stumbled upon digital evidence pointing to the counterfeiting of ECI’s electoral identity cards. The police were working in close consultation with Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sanjay Kaul’s office. The ECI has also sought a report from the CEO.
The police case has come as a blow to Congress’s attempts to showcase the YC elections as a telling example of inner-party democracy and an end to the epoch of nominated committees.
The scandal broke at an inopportune moment for the party as it upped the ante in the war of wits with the government. The arrests have triggered a new stand-off between the Congress and the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)].
Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) president V.K. Sanoj alleged the suspects were Mr. Mamkoottathil’s close associates. He said the police should bring Leader of the Opposition V.D. Satheesan under the ambit of their investigation.
Former YC State president Shafi Parambil, MLA, pointed out that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) State president had made a comparable demand. The CPI(M) and the BJP had struck a covert understanding to divert public attention from the government’s wrongdoing by implicating YC in a false case.
Mr. Mamkoottathil, who had acquired a public profile as a staunch Congress defender on live television, appeared to put a brave face in front of journalists. He said he would not feign chest pain to evade the police probe. Mr. Mamkoottathil said Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan’s plot to take YC workers off the streets to pre-empt protests against Navakerala Sadas would fail.
