Palakkad(Kerala) | Expelled Congress MLA Rahul Mamkootathil on Thursday turned up to cast his vote in the local body polls at Kunnathurmedu ward here which comes under the BJP-ruled Palakkad Municipality.

The Palakkad MLA turned up to vote after he secured protection from arrest in the two cases of sexual assault against him.

He arrived to cast his ballot towards the fag end of the day at around 5 pm and was reportedly greeted my some Congress workers and the party candidate contesting from the ward and they accompanied him inside the polling booth.

Mamkootathil was absconding for the last more than two weeks after the first FIR was registered against him for sexual assault and forced abortion.

After casting his vote, as the MLA stepped out of the booth, he was surrounded by reporters who bombarded him with questions regarding where he was hiding till now and what he has to say about the allegations against him.

Mamkootathil finally responded that what he had to say was before the court.

"What I have to say, what is said against me, all that is before the court. The court will take a decision. The truth will win, I am confident about that," he said.

Thereafter, he immediately left the polling booth in a vehicle with the MLA board as activists of the CPI(M)'s youth wing -- DYFI -- held up placards with photos of cradles and roosters and hooted at him.

Later, at a tea shop where he and his group stopped for refreshment, reporters again raised questions about the case, where he was hiding till now and his future plans.

However, Mamkootathil kept repeating the same statement that he gave outside the polling station.

"I have said what I have to say and will not say anything more right now. You (media) can speculate, anticipate or propagate. That is your wish.

"Whatever else I have to say, I will say before the court. It is a democratic country and I am allowed to do that," he added and then silently had his tea.

The only question he answered was with regard to whether he will continue to stay in Palakkad.

"I will be here (Palakkad) in the coming days. You can be sure of that," he said.

Subsequently, he went to his MLA office where reporters again tried to get a response from him, but he went inside a room and shut the door.

One of the party workers present there told the scribes that as long as Mamkootathil was the MLA of Palakkad, there was nothing wrong with him coming to his office.

Beyond that, he also did not say anything more.

The Palakkad MLA is also facing a second case of sexual assault based on a complaint by another woman, a resident of Bengaluru.

In the first case, he was granted interim protection from arrest by the Kerala High Court and in the second he secured anticipatory bail from a sessions court in Thiruvananthapuram.