Political row erupts in Wayanad over supply of food kits to ‘woo tribal voters’

A political controversy has erupted in Wayanad ahead of the Lok Sabha elections after hundreds of food kits, suspected to be gifted to voters to influence them, were seized by the police on Wednesday night at Sulthan Bathery in the district.

A police team led by Sulthan Bathery Station House Officer Byju K. Jose seized 1,400 kits containing tea dust, sugar, rice, and cowpea and 1,200 packets containing betel leaves, tobacco, and areca nuts from two vehicles.

The kits were seized around 8 p.m. on Wednesday while they were being loaded into a vehicle at Sulthan Bathery, following a tip-off, Mr. Jose said.

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The police were investigating the case, he said. The shop owner told the police that the kits were readied on a private phone call. More details could be revealed only at a later stage, he added.

Meanwhile, leaders of the United Democratic Front (UDF) and Left Democratic Front (LDF) leaders alleged that the BJP was behind the move.

In a complaint to State Election Commissioner K.L. Poulose, UDF candidate Rahul Gandhi’s chief election agent said Congress workers had come across thousands of food kits containing rice and other groceries being prepared to be distributed among tribal voters in the Sulthan Bathery, Mananthavady and Kalpetta Assembly segments to influence them.

He alleged that senior BJP leaders had ordered the kits and paid the vendors. The distribution was done with the consent of BJP State President and NDA candidate K. Surendran, he said, adding that such a move was against the model code of conduct, and that legal action should be initiated against him.

LDF convenor C.K. Saseendran alleged that the BJP was attempting to sabotage the election process. “We have complained to the District Chief Election Officer calling for stringent action against the culprits,” he said.  

However, Mr. Surendran termed the allegations as baseless. It was learned that a devotee of a temple at Sulthan Bathery had procured the kits to disburse among the local people in connection with his housewarming, he said. The statement of disbursing kits among tribal voters to canvass their votes would give a wrong message and it insults the pride of the tribal people, he said.