Thu May 15 05:43:54 UTC 2025: Okay, here’s a summarized news article based on the text provided:

**Headline: Former CPI(M) Minister Admits to Postal Ballot Tampering in 1989 Election**

**Alappuzha, India – May 15, 2025** – A senior leader of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) [CPI(M)], G. Sudhakaran, has confessed to tampering with postal ballots during the 1989 Lok Sabha elections in the Alappuzha constituency.

Speaking at a gathering of former NGO Union leaders, Sudhakaran, who served as election committee secretary at the time, revealed that postal ballots cast by service organization members were collected and altered at the party office to favor the CPI(M) candidate, K.V. Devadas. He stated that approximately 15% of the collected ballots, originally cast for the opposing candidate, were changed.

Sudhakaran downplayed the potential legal ramifications of his admission, stating, “Even if the Election Commission is to initiate a case over the matter, it will not be a problem.”

In the 1989 election, Vakkom Purushothaman of the Congress party defeated Mr. Devadas by a significant margin of over 25,000 votes. The revelation comes amid ongoing debates about election integrity and the security of postal voting systems in India. The CPI(M) has yet to release a statement regarding Mr. Sudhakaran’s confession.

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