Kochi |Kerala BJP vice president B Gopalakrishnan courted controversy on Friday by claiming that voters from other states were relocated to Thrissur to secure victory during last year's Lok Sabha election.

Speaking to reporters, Gopalakrishnan said, "In constituencies where we intend to win, we will bring people even from Jammu and Kashmir. We will settle them for a year and ensure they participate in the voting process. There is no doubt about it. We will do it again in the future."

When reporters pointed out that some house owners claimed that they were unaware of such individuals residing in their properties, Gopalakrishnan dismissed the concerns and said, "These are isolated cases of misunderstanding. There are no significant issues beyond this."

According to him, no bogus voting took place in Thrissur.

"Bogus voting means casting a ballot in the name of a dead person, or one person voting twice," he said.

Gopalakrishnan further alleged that the UDF and LDF collaborated in various constituencies to defeat the BJP.

"If there is no ethical concern in that practice, then there should be no ethical issue with our approach either."

In Thrissur, BJP candidate Suresh Gopi won with a margin of 74,682 votes while the Congress tally dropped from 4.16 lakh votes in 2019 to 3.27 lakh in 2024.

"Where did the remaining 90,000 votes go?" Gopalakrishnan asked.

Clarifying the voting-related controversies in Thrissur, BJP state secretary M T Ramesh stated that, under the law, any Indian citizen residing in a place for more than six months can register in the voter list there.

"With any one of the six ID proofs recognised by the Election Commission, proof of six months' residence, and neighbour verification, a person can vote anywhere in India. This includes Kashmir. In Thrissur, it was the residents of Thrissur who were registered. Fake votes were added by the CPI(M) and Congress, not the BJP," he said.