Congress leader Chandni Oommen on Friday said that SIR in the electoral roll resulted in him losing around 10,000 votes in his Puthuppally constituency in Kerala.
The Assembly elections were held here on Thursday, and the results for all 140 constituencies are scheduled to be announced on May 4.
The Liberal Democratic Front aims to obtain a third term, the United Democratic Front to return, and the National Democratic Rally to open its account in the state.
Speaking to a TV channel, Oommen, an MLA from Putupally, said many people told him that they wanted to vote for him, but when they reached the polling stations, they found their names missing from the electoral roll.
“So what’s more important to me is the loss of votes. The intense special review has disenfranchised so many people. It’s disappointing,” he said.
Oommen, the son of one of Congress’s most powerful members, the late and former Chief Minister Oommen Chandy, said he realized this while interacting with voters on polling day.
He also said that he opposed the SIR from the beginning and approached the Supreme Court against it, but his efforts failed. “Nothing can be done about it,” he added.
He said the Election Commission should have conducted the SIR as a comprehensive exercise and not an exclusive one, and that too in an alleged hasty manner.
Oommen also said that he chose to avoid posters and banners bearing his name during his election campaign, because he did not want to spark clashes with workers of other political parties.
He added that this was also the reason behind avoiding the usual celebrations marking the end of the election campaign.
He claimed that party colleagues and workers accepted his decision because they felt it was a friendly stance from the public.
“Since there was a clash between BJP activists and CPI(M) activists a day ago, I feel my stand is justified,” he said.
He expressed confidence in the victory of the United Democratic Front in the assembly elections.
