LDF to ask EC to disqualify Anoop Jacob

KOCHI: The Left Democratic Front (LDF) on Sunday demanded that the United Democratic Front’s (UDF) Piravom candidate Anoop Jacob should be disqualified for submitting a fake affidavit before the Election Commission of India (EC).CPM leader E P Jayarajan, who is in charge of the party’s campaigning in Piravom, said that the LDF would approach the EC seeking disqualification of Anoop’s candidature as he had not mentioned in the affidavit about a criminal case, in which he was involved in 2007. “The police had informed the First Class Judicial Magistrate Court that he was an absconder in the case,” Jayarajan said and added that Anoop had violated the election rules by hiding these facts. “As he had hidden these facts in the affidavit, his candidature will not stand.With his decision to contest the election after being declared absconder, Advocate Anoop has proved that he was not a law- abiding citizen,” he said.  Jayarajan also alleged that the UDF candidate failed to mention in the affidavit about the punishment he had received in a case in 2001, as well. He said that Chief Minister Oommen Chandy was campaigning for a person who had been termed an absconder, which was also a criminal offense. This also should be looked into, he added. Meanwhile, the UDF was prompt to react terming the allegations baseless. Kerala Congress (J) chairman Johny Nellore said that neither Anoop nor the party leadership was aware of the cases pending against him. “In the case that the LDF is raising, Anoop has not received any summons till now. The police had registered cases against many persons, including former minister T M Jacob in connection with a siege to the taluk office in 2007. But how can Anoop know that he is an accused if the police did not issue summons?” asked Johny Nellore. He also said that the CPM and the LDF had come out with such allegations fearing a defeat in the bypoll. Minister K Babu, who is the campaign organiser, said that the LDF was resorting to baseless allegations as they wanted to overcome the debacle following the resignation of CPM's Neyyattinkara MLA Selavaraj.