Opposition parties in Kerala have alleged electoral roll manipulation in Thrissur a year after the Bharatiya Janata Party's historic first Lok Sabha victory in the state, though evidence for the claims of large-scale manipulation remains limited. The accusations emerged amid broader national allegations by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi about electoral malpractices, which the Election Commission of India has denied.

Actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi's win marked a dramatic turnaround from 2019, when he finished third with 2,93,822 votes behind Congress and CPI candidates. 

In 2024, he secured 4,12,338 votes (37.8 percent vote share), defeating Communist Party of India (CPI) leader VS Sunilkumar by 74,686 votes and increasing the NDA's vote share by 9.16 percentage points.

Of the seven assembly constituencies in the Thrissur Lok Sabha segment, Suresh Gopi surged ahead in six- Manalur, Thrissur, Ollur, Nattika, Irinjalakuda and Puthukad.

He led in Manalur by 8,013 votes, Ollur (10,363), Thrissur (14,117), Nattika (13,945), Irinjalakuda (13,016) and Puthukad (12,692).

The United Democratic Front (UDF) and Left Democratic Front (LDF) allege unusual voter registration patterns were behind this surge, claiming the BJP enrolled non-residents using addresses of vacant properties. 

Both the LDF and UDF have flagged the addition of 1.46 lakh voters in Thrissur between 2019 and 2024 as abnormal, particularly when compared to Ernakulam, which added 78,713 voters, and Thiruvananthapuram, which added 63,008 voters during the same period—despite these constituencies having typically higher floating populations.

Speaking to TNM, Congress and LDF leaders accused the Election Commission and other authorities of facilitating the addition of illegal votes to the electoral rolls before the election. Both parties said they filed multiple complaints with the District Election Officer about the irregular additions, but claimed no action was taken. The LDF and Congress are now demanding a transparent inquiry into the matter.

Allegations of fraudulent voter additions 

VS Sunilkumar told TNM that the fraudulent addition of voters occurred in the supplementary voter’s list—a revised list that includes additions, deletions, or modifications made to the original voter list, which was submitted before. 

“The BJP added many individuals as voters in Thrissur from different constituencies in Kerala. We noticed this illegal addition and filed two complaints with the ECI, but didn’t receive any response. We even registered a complaint specifically mentioning the booth number and vote number. However, no action was taken,” he said. 

On March 25, 2024 the LDF filed their first complaint to Thrissur District Collector, VR Krishna Teja IAS, who also served as the District Election Officer.

“Votes are being added in the names of people who do not have permanent residence, migrant workers, and even in the names of people who are completely unheard of in those areas. It has been reported that this is being done by focusing on locked houses, flats, and apartments, by taking ID card numbers and house numbers from the voters’ list, and without the knowledge of the house owners,” the complaint alleged. 

The complaint said this took place after the publication of the voters’ list on January 22, 2024. 

Congress also raised similar allegations and filed multiple complaints mentioning the names of the apartments and details of illegal voters added.

Highrise buildings, ‘non-existent’ voters

Major allegations pertain to voter additions in two apartments in Thrissur’s Poonkunnam. Congress has alleged that 45 voters were illegally added from an apartment named Capital Village, while apartment Inland Udaya had 79 such voters.

The voter’s list in booth 30 of the Thrissur Assembly constituency, shows 11 members with the address 4C, second block, Capital Village. But the only person in the list, a woman called Prasanna Ashokan, is an actual resident. She had taken the apartment on rent and is unaware of the identities of others. One of them was Ajayakumar, identified as Suresh Gopi’s driver. 

TNM spoke to 54-year-old Prasanna, who along with her family has been residing in 4C for the past four years.  “Before the elections, a Congress worker came and inquired about these people, and I clearly said, they are not residing here. So they asked me to sign a paper; I assume it is a complaint. But then nothing happened,” she said.

Though Prasanna shifted her vote, her family used to vote in their old address, she said.

The nine others who are listed in Prasanna’s address are: Ajayakumar, Ayyappan, Santhosh Kumar, Sajith Babu, Maneesh MS, Mukhami Amma, Salja K, Monisha and Sudheer. 

Though Congress alleged 45 individuals were illegally added from this particular building, not everyone voted. Joseph Tajet, Thrissur DCC president, told TNM that it may be due to ‘fear.’ “When we raised complaints regarding the illegality, some of the voters didn’t cast their votes,” he added.

In Inland Udaya apartments, where the Congress alleges 79 illegal additions, the voter's list identifies 1D as the residence of Shaji K R, an RSS leader who resides in the Alathur Lok Sabha constituency, and his wife Deepthi C. 

TNM found that 1D is occupied by another family, who have been staying there for the past 18 months and have no acquaintance with Shaji. The apartment’s association also confirmed that they are not aware of Shaji, being a resident.

Apart from Shaji and family, many individuals were added to the voter’s roll from Inland Udaya, however, many of them did not specifically mention their flat numbers, and the address only shows the building name.  

The association president Vasudevan Namboothiri, who resides in 4C said the majority of the residents who live in this apartment are BJP voters. “The Congress and Communists, who never get a vote from here, are afraid and raising these allegations,” he said. 

In the Cheloor Country Court, where Congress alleged that two voters – Ramadas PS and his wife Maya Ramadas – were illegally added, TNM found that it doesn’t have 13A address as seen in the voters list. 

The Congress leaders also alleged that six voters were illegally added using the house address of Dr V Aathira, BJP’s Ward 1 councillor in Poonkunnam. Her relative Uma, who has votes in Palakkad’s Nagalassery panchayath along with her husband Manikandan and their son, was added to the voters list. 

Speaking with Asianet News, Uma said her name was added to the list in Thrissur and claimed that she had previously lived there. However, she did not cast vote in Thrissur as she was not present in Thrissur during the election. 

Valsala Baburaj, a Congress leader and former councilor of Ayyathol division in Thrissur, where the flats are situated alleged that In booths number 36 and 37, over 100 illegal votes were added – 79 votes in one booth and 38 in the other. But only one such vote was cast because they had filed complaints, she said.

“In this Lok Sabha constituency, we have over 1000 booths. If they did the same with other booths, there would be thousands of bogus voters. We need to check all booths thoroughly to confirm this,” she said. 

Congress has also alleged that 11 votes from Suresh Gopi’s family, including his wife and children, were added illegally. They voted in booth no 115 in Nettissery. “This is a matter of morality as well. In many elections the candidates cast their votes in their native place. Here, they came and lived for election but they didn’t continue living here,” Joseph Tajet said. 

Ashish Moothedath, Thrissur North Congress mandalam president said, he doesn’t  think this is something they did within a short period of time. “They might take a year or more to properly plan and execute this,” he alleged.

Both Sunilkumar and Joseph Tajet told TNM that the District Collector’s response was that, “if a person’s name is in the voters' list, they cannot stop them from voting.” 

Sunilkumar alleged that the additions were made using the loophole of Form 6 - application for the inclusion of a name in the electoral roll for citizens applying for the first time as voters or those who are shifting from one constituency to another. 

He explained: “The documents that are accepted as proof include passport, Aadhar card, ration card, driving licence, bank passbook, cooking gas connection bill, residence certificate, and rent agreement. Apart from this, ECI has also allowed submission of a postcard that the person received in the address, which is located in the constituency.”

Sunilkumar alleges that they used this loophole to add people and called it a planned manipulation.

He said 99 percent of the added voters are not currently residing in Thrissur. “We can easily find it after checking the renewed voter list published on January 1, 2025. But currently, the information is not available on EC website. That makes it impossible to compare,” he said and added,“How many fake votes are not important? Even if it's 10, it is illegal,” he added.

Congress alleges lapses by BLOs

Congress leader VT Balram said it is difficult to track the illegal additions of voters in every constituency. “Rahul Gandhi put so much effort into collecting and verifying the details of one assembly segment in one Lok Sabha constituency. To find out how many votes were illegally added in Thrissur is difficult and takes time. We have started working on it. We have asked the ECI to provide the voters roll in digital format,” he said. 

When Sunilkumar raised the allegation, ECI asked him to submit an affidavit along with evidence, as specified under Rule 20 (3) (b) of the Registration of Electors Rules 1960, which says the registration officer shall hold a summary inquiry into every claim or objection in respect of which notice has been given. “I am willing to do that. But ECI should inquire into it suo motu, rather than concealing any error that occurred on their side,” Sunilkumar said.

Joseph Tajet emphasises the lapses from Booth Level Officers (BLO), who have the responsibility to maintain and revise the electoral roll. According to EIC, the BLO is responsible for house-to-house visits and checking for overlaps, migration, transfer or shifting, identification of shifted, dead, or non-existing electors, verifying inclusion and exclusion errors, reviewing spelling details, entries of duplicate names, part header page, photos, and other details of electors in the roll. 

“The ECI should inquire into the role of the district collector and BLOs. Otherwise, this could damage our democratic process," Joseph Tajet said.

Suresh Gopi has so far not commented on the allegations. BJP leader K Surendran, said he need not respond to this. “We have a clear answer for all allegations. The Congress and CPI(M) are raising these allegations showing a few individuals, who moved to Thrissur as part of the election work. We started our work six months before the election,” he added.

This report was republished from The News Minute as part of The News Minute-Newslaundry alliance. Read about our partnership here and become a subscriber here.