SURESH GOPI STAYS QUIET ON VOTER LIST DISPUTE, SAYS ELECTION COMMISSION WILL SPEAK
THRISSUR, Kerala, India – August 17, 2025:Suresh Gopi, Kerala’s first Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Member of Parliament and a Union Minister, isn’t talking about the voter list mess in the Thrissur Lok Sabha area. When reporters asked, Gopi said, “The Election Commission of India (ECI) will respond, not me.” He’s dodging questions that the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)] and the Indian National Congress (INC) keep bringing up. These opposition parties say that weird stuff, like adding tons of fake names to the voter list, helped Gopi win in 2024.
What the Opposition Claims
Things got heated after Congress leader Rahul Gandhi claimed voter lists were messed with nationwide. Opposition parties in Kerala then started complaining about Thrissur.
The CPI(M) and INC say the BJP sneakily added 30,000 to 60,000 names to the Thrissur voter list right before the 2024 elections. They say these people were mostly from other areas or didn’t actually live there.
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Specific gripes about Suresh Gopi
People are also calling out the minister and his family. The opposition says Suresh Gopi and his family got on the Thrissur voter list even though they live in Thiruvananthapuram.
A Congress leader even filed a police report, wanting Gopi investigated for lying to get on the Thrissur voter list. He supposedly said he’d lived there for six months. Still, the police haven’t opened a case.
Gopi’s Not Talking; BJP Defends
Suresh Gopi hasn’t talked to the media much about this. When he visited his area, CPI(M) and BJP people protested (the BJP folks were protesting the protests).
M. T. Ramesh, the BJP’s Kerala state general secretary, says the claims are weak and not proven. He says the voter list updates followed the Election Commission’s rules and that the party just worked hard to get more people registered.
Ramesh thinks the opposition can’t deal with Suresh Gopi’s big win and are now trying to slam the voters of Thrissur. He and other BJP leaders keep telling the opposition to take their complaints to the Election Commission or the courts.
Election Commission’s Spot
The Election Commission of India (ECI) is right in the middle of this. Opposition leaders, like CPI(M) general secretary M. A. Baby, say the ECI is acting like a helper for the government and needs to clear up these claims.
The ECI’s rulebook doesn’t say how long you must live somewhere to be considered a resident. But it does say you need to live there permanently, not just temporarily. The opposition wants an investigation to see if the new voters met this condition.
Political chaos
This mess has made things tense in Kerala, with both sides protesting. It’s not just about whether the election was fair but also about whether the BJP’s win was legit.
Suresh Gopi won the Thrissur seat by 74,686 votes, which was a big deal. The opposition says the voter stuff could’ve changed the election. How this all ends will really mess with Kerala’s political scene.
