[1]Security of chief minister Oommen Chandy and UDF candidate R. Selvaraj has been beefed up after an anonymous SMS message held out a threat to their lives on the eve of the Neyyattinkara bypoll.
The day also saw Selvaraj’s wife alleging she was assaulted and looted by LDF workers. LDF alleged she wooed voters by offering them cash.
The threat to the chief minister and the UDF candidate came via an SMS message sent to the rail alert service of the Railway police in the wee hours of Friday.
Senior police officers were alerted immediately and more police personnel deployed for the security of the two.
A police enquiry showed the SMS came from the SIM of a Neeleswaram native. Contacted by police, the man said he had lost the SIM card a few months ago.
The Museum police registered a case.
Selvaraj’s wife Mary Valsala alleged LDF workers assaulted her while she was going to her bank at Chettitheruvu in Udayankulangara on Friday morning.
A youth, Saji, alleged CPM workers assaulted him too,while he went to protect Valsala. Both were admitted to the Parassala government hospital.
Some local people said that Saji had been to their houses to seek votes for Selvaraj. The Parassala police registered a case against some LDF activists.
The LDF took out a march to the police station alleging Valsala distributed money for votes and that the police was not registering a case against her. The LDF also sent a petition to the election commission.
Links:
[1] http://archive.asianage.com/la-838550jpgcropdisplayjpg-803