The CPI(M) supported Pariyaram Medical College Samrakshana Samiti, floated recently, won all the seats in the crucial elections to the Pariyaram Cooperative Medical College governing body in this politically sensitive district on Sunday, official sources said.Immediately after the poll results was announced, former chairman of the governing body M V Raghavan decided to approach court seeking its intervention to declare the polls null and void. Preliminary reports said the Samiti garnered over 200 votes out of the 240 votes polled in the individual member category. Earlier, alleging massive irregularities in the election, the United Democratic Front asked the authorities to keep in abeyance the announcement of the results. The front also said it would seek legal remedies in the light of the “misuse” of official machinery in preventing genuine members from casting votes by the CPI(M)-led Left Democratic Front in Kerala.The UDF leaders termed as “unprecedented” the police action of taking Raghavan into custody along with MLA K Sudhakaran, both candidates for the election, just before the polls began on Sunday morning.However, CPI-M leaders countered the charges and alleged that the polls were subverted by a team led by Raghavan apprehending defeat in the light of several UDF sympathisers switching over to the Samiti floated by the LDF.“Obstructing genuine members of the cooperative body from casting votes and providing support to LDF sympathisers to cast bogus votes were clear cases of subverting democratic process and it amounted to abusing the High Court order to hold the polls in free and fair manner,” UDF Convenor P P Thankachan said.
