Palakkad (Kerala), April 8 (AHN) NDA candidate Sobha Surendran on Wednesday strongly denied allegations that a BJP worker distributed money to a voter in Palakkad, terming the charge a "scripted attempt" to malign her during the final phase of campaigning.

The BJP leader asserted that she would pursue the matter legally, including filing a police complaint against a media organisation and its reporter, whom she accused of conspiring to damage her public image.

Addressing the media, Surendran maintained that her visit to Kannadi panchayat had nothing to do with electioneering malpractice and was solely to meet a cancer patient.

She dismissed the accusations as baseless and politically motivated, claiming that her growing acceptance among voters had unsettled her opponents.

"Votes will be sought only on the basis of politics and development. I will not withdraw from this stand until the truth is established," she said.

The BJP leader also alleged that Congress workers followed her vehicle during the visit, prompting her to question their actions.

According to her, the situation escalated when one of the individuals accompanying the car made an inappropriate gesture.

"If anyone behaves in a manner that would offend a woman, I will question it. That is exactly what I did," she said, adding that such incidents were being orchestrated in anticipation of a BJP victory in Palakkad.

Surendran further indicated that she would soon approach the police with a formal complaint against those involved, including the media personnel she accused of misreporting the incident.

Her response comes amid a politically charged atmosphere in the constituency, where allegations and counter-allegations have intensified ahead of polling.

A firebrand leader of the BJP in Kerala, Surendran has been a prominent face of the party in multiple electoral battles. In the 2024 Lok Sabha elections, she contested from Alappuzha and, despite finishing third, succeeded in improving the party’s vote share. Earlier, in the 2021 Assembly elections, she secured a strong second-place finish in the Kazhakootam constituency, underlining her electoral significance within the party’s state unit.