A dispute broke out over the allocation of tokens for submitting nomination papers after United Democratic Front (UDF) candidate and sitting MP Rajmohan Unnithan alleged that he was denied the first token despite arriving first at the district Civil Station in Kasaragod on Wednesday.
He staged a sit-in outside the District Collector’s office, accusing authorities of favouring Left Democratic Front (LDF) candidate M.V. Balakrishnan.
In response, Mr. Balakrishnan said his proposer arrived early and queued since nine in the morning. Aziz Kadapuram, representing the Left candidate, suggested reviewing CCTV footage for verification of the claim.
Mr. Unnithan argued that the Collector was “biased” towards the ruling party, citing his delayed token allocation despite arriving an hour earlier. He said a police officer also intervened, adding that a complaint would be submitted to the Election Commission.
Collector K. Inbasekar later clarified that tokens were issued on “a first come, first served basis.”
However, efforts to resolve the situation, including intervention by CPI(M) acting district secretary C.H. Kunhambu, failed to ease tensions. Matters escalated when MLA A.K.M. Ashraf, accompanied by others, staged a protest in front of the Collector’s office in support of Mr. Unnithan.
Mr. Balakrishnan maintained his claim of arriving first and insisted on filing the nomination papers ahead of Mr. Unnithan.
Condemning the District Collector’s actions, Mr. Unnithan filed his nomination papers before the Deputy Collector at 11 a.m.
According to the Collector, tokens were issued at 10 a.m. on Wednesday and the first token was issued to Azeez Kadappuram, the proposer of M.V. Balakrishnan, who reached at 07: 06: 22 and the second token was issued to Mr. Unnithan who reached at 08: 55:45, but he refused to receive the token.
