The Election Commission of India (ECI) has, on Thursday, sought a report from the Palakkad collector, who is in charge of the elections for the Palakkad constituency, on the allegations of black money made against Congress leaders.

The Commission asked the district collector for a report of the search conducted in the hotel rooms of Congress women leaders. The poll panel, it is learned, will take further action in the matter after receiving the report.

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A police team conducted a raid at the KPM Regency Hotel in Palakkad, where Congress leaders, including Shanimol Usman and Bindu Krishna, stayed around midnight on Tuesday. After inspecting the rooms and finding nothing, the cops left the hotel.

Initially, the police explained away the raid as a routine check and that no complaints had been filed. However, as the controversy surrounding the raid grew, they clarified that the raid was conducted following a tip-off regarding black money transactions at the hotel for the UDF/Congress candidate Rahul Mamkoottathil.

Meanwhile, on Thursday, Opposition Leader V D Satheesan approached the ECI on the midnight police raid at a hotel occupied by Congress women leaders on Tuesday in the Palakkad Assembly constituency. In a letter to the poll panel, he highlighted how the CPI-M has been misusing the police politically by keeping the State Election Commission office and its officials a scarecrow.

“All the existing laws have been thrown to the wind while the police raided the hotel rooms of the senior women leaders. They did not abide by the instructions as per the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita. It’s against the law that neither the ADM nor RDO was present during the Police raid,” Satheesan said in the letter.

The Congress camp hopes to politically cash in on the midnight police raid on the rooms of women Congress leaders at the KPM Regency hotel in Palakkad which went on for several hours. They expect that the midnight raid may give them an edge in the Palakkad Assembly by-election.

In this connection, the CPI-M has again released new videos related to the allegation that Congress has brought black money to the hotel for distribution among voters. CCTV footage from outside the KPM Regency Hotel was released on Thursday.

The party released the footage from inside the hotel on Wednesday. In the footage, KSU leader Fenny Nynan was seen walking with a blue trolley bag. Congress candidate Rahul Mamkoottathil responded that there were clothes in the trolley bag.