In what has come as a major boost to veteran BJP leader K Surendran, the Assistant Solicitor General (ASG) of India has filed a report to the Kerala High Court, confirming that bogus voting incidents had occurred in Manjeshwar constituency in the Assembly elections last year.

It is estimated that around 259 fraudulent votes were cast in the constituency in the 2016 elections, in which Surendran lost to Muslim League candidate PB Abdul Razak by a mere 89 votes.

The report was filed after the ASG examined travel documents of dozens of voters who were abroad during the elections. When the documents of 26 persons who voted in the elections were looked into, it was found that 20 of them were overseas when their votes were cast in Manjeshwar.

The travel documents of several others, who are among the 259 voters under suspicion, are now being examined.

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Earlier, Surendran - in a petition challenging the election filed to the Kerala High Court - had stated that even the dead voted in Manjeshwar during the Assembly elections. Surendran’s accusations found support when returning officer PH Sinajuddin stated that a vote was cast in the name of UA Muhammed of Udyavoor, who had died a year earlier.

The High Court then asked 10 suspicious voters from the Manjeswaram constituency to appear in court. Two of them appeared two days ago and confessed that they had not cast votes, which were registered in their name.

If the allegations are proved, the High Court could deem Abdul Razak's victory as void and declare Surendran as the winner. If that happens, Surendran would become the second BJP MLA from Kerala after O Rajagopal, in what will be a major boost to the saffron party as it continues to look for inroads into the state.