Kasaragod: Four journalists were assaulted by suspected Indian Union Muslim League (IUML) workers when they reached the Government High School in Chengala to report alleged incidents of bogus voting.
Kairali News reporter Shiju Kannan, the channel's cameraman Shaiju Pilathara, Mathrubhumi News reporter Sarang, and Mathrubhumi newspaper reporter Pradeep G N were manhandled, their clothes torn and asked to leave the school compound by suspected IUML workers on Friday, April 26.
In the afternoon, CPM poll managers reached the school in Chengala -- a bastion of the IUML in the Kasaragod assembly segment -- after the Marxist party's agents reported widespread bogus voting in booth numbers 113, 114, and 115 in the school. They also informed their party leaders that IUML workers were not allowing them to sit in the polling station.
IUML workers were casting votes of those who were not present in Kerala, alleged LDF election committee convenor K P Satheesh Chandram. "We filed a complaint with the District Election Officer," he said.
When the media reached the school to report the incident, suspected IUML workers asked them to back off and not report from the school. That was when Udma MLA and acting CPM district secretary Kunhambu reached the school. "The IUML workers tried to manhandle the MLA but (Kasaragod MLA) N A Nellikkunnu intervened and resolved the matter," he said.
The journalists have filed complaints with the police and the collector.
The Collector Inbasekar in a statement said he has taken action on the bogus voting in booth number 115. He did not elaborate on the action taken.