Manjeshwaram election bribery case: Kerala Crime Branch summons BJP chief K Surendran

The Crime Branch wing of Kerala Police summoned Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) state, President K Surendran, again in a case registered against him for allegedly bribing a rival candidate from the Manjeshwaram constituency to withdraw his nominations in the recently concluded Assembly polls. 

According to reports, this time, the BJP leader has been asked to produce his cell phone to the Crime Branch. This is the second time in September, Surendran has been called for questioning by the Crime Branch. Earlier in the month, he was questioned by the Crime branch for one and a half hours in connection with an alleged election bribery case.

Taking to the media after a long hour interrogation, Surendran had alleged that the case against him was politically motivated but cooperated with the investigation as he respects the rule of law.

What is the election bribery case?

During the last assembly elections, Surendran fought from two seats Konni and Manjeshwar. In 2016, the BJP state chief lost in Manjeshwar by mere 89 votes. While a BSP's K Sundara who has a similar name to Surendran got 400 votes. In 2021, polls Surendran withdraw his nomination. 

Surendran later revealed that he was threatened by BJP workers to withdraw his nominations. "They gave me the amount in cash," he had said. Following this development, CPI(M) candidate VV Rameshan, who got the third highest votes in the constituency, approached the police. A case was registered after recording Sundara's statement. The case was later handed over to the crime branch.

In the Manjeshwaram constituency, IUML's AKM Ashraf won 65,758 votes while BJP Kerala President Surendran got 65,014 votes. Rameshan managed to bag 40,639 votes.