Months after the BJP secured its highest tally of three seats in Kerala, allegations of election fund misappropriation have surfaced, with a local leader filing a police complaint claiming that a fake GST bill was generated in the name of his business.
In a police complaint filed Thursday, BJP local leader Pramada Chandran alleged that a fake bill of Rs 3.25 lakh had been generated using his venture’s GST number, claiming that his shop supplied 10,000 BJP flags to two assembly constituencies during the recent elections. Chandran, who is the general secretary of the BJP at Vamanapuram assembly constituency, said he approached the police after already flagging the issue with party state president Rajeev Chandrasekhar.
Chandran claimed that he was shocked to see his GST number had been used for forging a bill for supplying the party flags.
“I’m not doing any textile or cloth business, but only deal with supply of edible oil. However, a bill showing my venture supplying party flags has appeared on social media. I have complained to the police to find out the source of this fake bill,” he said in his complaint.
The development comes amid allegations that election funds were siphoned off through fake or inflated bills and receipts for election materials. Images and video clips making similar allegations have also surfaced.
Amid the row, the BJP has said it would “examine the complaints”.
“I have not heard the voice clips,” senior BJP leader P K Krishnadas said. “We have not come across any complaints regarding the election funds. We don’t think there are such issues or anomalies. BJP is a party that gives top priority for transparency.”
Meanwhile, state BJP chief Rajeev Chandrasekhar denied the allegations, and also dismissed reports of disciplinary action against three leaders, including a state secretary.
“No anomalies have been detected in connection with the assembly elections. BJP also already completed auditing at the state, district and constituency levels days after the elections were over. Disciplinary actions are quite common in a democratic party,” he said.
Source from: https://indianexpress.com/article/india/kerala-bjp-reacts-after-fake-gst-bill-row-leads-to-police-complaint-10790121/
