Thiruvananthapuram: Kerala's chief electoral officer Teeka Ram Meena confirmed that three women of the Left wing had cast fake votes in the state. The accused are identified as Saleena PP, a CPI(M) panchayat member, Sumayya KP, CPI(M) leader and P Padmini.  

The electoral officer confirmed the incident after two days as the United Democratic Front (UDF) raised a complaint about the involvement of Left Democratic Front (LDF) in bogus voting in Kasaragod district on April 23.

Meena also said that if the polling officer is found to have been in the know of bogus voting, then he will also be deemed guilty of the offence. He then added that the polling officer had failed to conduct fair and free elections in the state.

A week ago, the Congress released a video of women casting votes twice. On the same day, senior Congress leader and Kannur UDF candidate K Sudhakaran had said that CPI(M) was responsible for the bogus votes cast in Kasaragod and Kannur Lok Sabha constituencies. 

Sudhakaran then said that he has evidence of bogus votes being cast in earlier elections too. He said that he lost 6,000 votes in the previous election, but an investigation had revealed that 17,403 bogus votes were cast. 

The state has registered a voter turnout of 77.68%, according to the figures released by the Election Commission. Kannur saw the highest voter turnout at 83.63%, while Thiruvananthapuram witnessed the lowest voting percentage at 73.40%. Counting of votes will take place on May 23.