Candidate slams post-poll violence

Ashraf Padanna

K. Muraleedharan, the Congress party candidate from Vadakara in Kerala, says people in the constituency are living in fear after rivals unleashed violence post-poll.

Vadakara witnessed the keenest contest in the elections held on April 23 with the ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist), or CPM fielded its P Jayarajan.

Jayarajan, himself a victim of political violence, is out on bail in several criminal cases, including two murders of political opponents.

On Saturday evening, COT Naseer, a former CPM leader who is also challenging Jayarajan here as an independent candidate, sustained grievous injuries after a gang hacked him.

“Four days ahead of the counting of votes (on Thursday), they are unleashing widespread violence in my constituency,” Muraleedharan told reporters here on Sunday.

“They are even attacking homes of Revolutionary Marxist Party (a breakaway group founded by slain leader TP Chandrasekharan) workers simply because they supported me.”

Muraleedharan, now a legislator, said the CPM activists had attacked him when he visited a polling station during the ballot but the police did not act on his complaint till date.

“The attempt on Naseer’s life is the latest of a spate of attacks on political rivals. If this is the state of a legislator like me, what would be the plight of ordinary workers?” he asked.

“They are not sparing even the memorials of Chandrasekharan whom they killed. Win or loss, they say there would be more violence in the constituency.”

Political violence, especially the recent killings of three young Congress workers in the region, was hotly debated during the campaigning in the three northern constituencies. CPM state secretary Kodiyeri Balakrishnan, however, denied any role for his party in these targeted attacks at night, targeting homes, officers and vehicles.

“You don’t have to use a gun to kill a mosquito and we have no business in putting him up as an opponent,” he told reporters in Kannur.

Meanwhile, police said Naseer, who was undergoing treatment at Government Medical College Hospital in Kozhikode, is out of danger and he had identified his assailants.  The 37-year-old was rushed to the hospital by his friends and he’s getting treated there for stab injuries on head, stomach, arms and legs.

The gang came on a motorbike and knocked him down as he was heading home on a scooter after breaking fast.