UDF hopes for win despite tampering dampener

 

Mr Chandy iterated that the mandate they rec-eived at Aruvikkara bye-lection would be repeated in the local bodies election results too. But at the same time, the UDF leadership was apprehensive of losing vote share in the first phase of the polling especially in Southern districts where the bar scam issue re-surfaced against Mani.

 

A majority of UDF leaders on anonymity told DC that as per the ground reality, they would get Kannur, Thrissur and Ernakulam Corporations. The polling percentage in the remaining three corporations — Thiruvananthapuram, Kollam and Kozhikode - had caused apprehension among UDF leaders.

 

However, KPCC president V.M. Sudheeran expressed his anguish on the tampering of several electronic voting machines in Malappuram today coinciding with the second phase of polling.

 

He expressed his concern and feared that the sabotage could have been deliberate. When UDF leaders demanded re-polling in Malappuram, the state Election Commission decided to have re-polling in 105 polling booths.

 

“Tampering of EVM’s should have happened in Kannur and not in Malappuram as all the research on how to sabotage elections happens there. So we don’t think that the CPM is behind the tampering as it cannot be done without senior officials noticing it,” said a Congress leader.

 

Another UDF leader opined that just because in some centres, the Congress and Muslim League were pitted agai-nst each other, those parties were unlikely to resort to such cheap tactics.