Case filed against Kerala CPI(M) leader G. Sudhakaran over 1989 postal ballot-tampering remarks

Senior CPI(M) leader G. Sudhakaran
| Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT

The Alappuzha South police in Kerala on Friday (May 16, 2025) registered a case against former Minister and senior Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] leader G. Sudhakaran following his own statement that postal ballots were tampered with in favour of the CPI(M) candidate in the Alappuzha constituency in the 1989 Lok Sabha elections.

The case has been registered under Sections 465 (forgery), 468 (forgery for purpose of cheating) and 471 (using as genuine a forged document or electronic record) of the Indian Penal Code and Sections 135 (removal of ballot papers from polling station to be an offence), 135 A (offence of booth capturing), 136 (electoral offence) and 128 (maintenance of secrecy of voting) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951.

The police acted as per the direction of the Election Commission and based on the legal opinion of the Deputy Director General of Prosecution, Alappuzha. On Thursday (May 15, 2025), as directed by District Collector Alex Varghese, who is also the District Election Officer, Ambalappuzha tahsildar S. Anvar recorded Mr. Sudhakaran’s statement. “We have registered the case. Now, we will collect evidence and further action will be taken based on it,” said a police official.

Mr. Sudhakaran, while inaugurating a gathering of former NGO Union leaders in Alappuzha on May 14, said that postal ballots were tampered with in favour of the CPI(M) candidate in the 1989 polls and that “even if the Election Commission is to initiate a case over the matter, it will not be a problem.”

In 1989 polls, Vakkom Purushothaman of the Congress party defeated K.V. Devadas of the CPI (M) by a margin of over 25,000 votes.

“In 1989, when Devadas contested as the CPI(M) candidate, postal ballots belonging to members of service organisations were collected and brought to the CPI (M) district committee office. I was the election committee secretary at the time. Around 15% of the voters had cast their ballots for the opposing candidate. We verified those ballots and altered them,” Mr. Sudhakaran said, adding, “Do not think that if you seal the postal ballot and hand it over, no one will know your decision.”

After the remarks received widespread attention and Chief Electoral Officer of Kerala Rathan U. Kelkar ordered an investigation, Mr. Sudhakaran retracted his statement on Thursday. He said that no such incident of postal ballot tampering had occurred.

“The other day, I spoke with a bit of imagination. I have never engaged in or facilitated bogus voting. Postal ballots were not tampered with. I was only giving a warning to union members who did not vote. I have conveyed this to the election officials who came to record my statement,” he said.

The CPI (M) district leadership has denied the allegation of postal ballot-tampering.