Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 17 (IANS): Kerala Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Sanjay Kaul on Friday asked the State Police Chief to conduct a probe and submit a report in alleged case of bogus voter ID cards being used during the Youth Congress office bearer election.

“I have written to the Election Commission besides asked the Congress party to respond on these allegations. If these allegations are true, then it’s a very serious issue,” the CEO said.

Earlier, State BJP President K. Surendran had alleged that a fraction of the Kerala Congress created bogus voter ID cards for the Youth Congress election in Kerala.

“It’s a serious offense. These artificially created fake voter IDs can be used in general elections. It can also be used to buy SIM cards. A Congress MLA is directly involved in the development of this application. Top Congress leaders like K.C. Venugopal and V.D Satheesan were aware of this. @TheKeralaPolice should register cases against the perpetrators. We @BJP4Keralam will move to the @ECISVEEPfor appropriate action,” Surendran posted on X.

CPI-M State Secretary M.V Govindan said it is a serious issue and one should suspect that this is being done with the upcoming general elections and the Election Commission should see this as a very grave issue.

Incumbent Youth Congress President and three time legislator Shafi Parambil said Surendran is known for airing baseless allegations.

“Till date none of what he has alleged has turned out to be true and all this is being done for publicity. He has a poor credibility rating,” said Parambil.

State Congress President K. Sudhakaran said that he doubts of such a thing happening, but that doesn’t mean it cannot be done.

“I will look into it since this has now surfaced,” said Sudhakaran.