Mayor Arya Rajendran’s Office Accused of Interfering to Remove Congress Candidate’s Vote

Thiruvananthapuram: Evidence has surfaced indicating that employees from Mayor Arya Rajendran’s office intervened in an attempt to remove the name of Congress candidate Vyshna Suresh from the voter list in the Muttada ward of the Corporation. Visual evidence has emerged showing two employees from the Mayor’s office, who were not officially assigned to the inquiry concerning Vyshna, visiting the residences listed in Vyshna’s documents and collecting affidavits from the residents.

The complaint against Vyshna was lodged by CPM branch member Dhanesh Kumar. His grievance stated that Vyshna was not residing at house number 18/564, which was recorded alongside her name in the final voter list, and thus, her name should be removed from the list. Based on this complaint, clerk G.M. Karthika conducted an inquiry and confirmed that Vyshna was indeed not residing at the address 18/564.

During the hearing conducted by Superintendent R. Pratapachandran, Vyshna’s documents were not reviewed. Instead, based solely on Karthika’s report, it was recommended that Vyshna’s vote be struck off. Subsequently, Additional Secretary V. Sajikumar, who also serves as the Electoral Officer, proceeded to remove Vyshna’s name from the voter list.

It was during this period that two officials from the Mayor’s office, including a clerk from the Corporation’s Project Cell, made a parallel intervention. They visited the house where Vyshna was purportedly residing and obtained affidavits from the residents stating that no one else had lived there for two years and that they were the current occupants. However, the Corporation’s Election Cell informed the State Election Commission that only clerk G.M. Karthika and Superintendent Pratapachandran, who conducted the hearing, were involved in the inquiry to remove Vyshna’s name.

Meanwhile, the Mayor’s office has issued a clarification regarding the incident, stating that the individuals who arrived for Vyshna’s verification were employees from the municipal revenue department. According to the Mayor’s office, a Revenue Inspector and an office attendant conducted the inspection.