Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 23 (PTI) A court in Kerala on Thursday granted conditional bail to four Youth Congress activists arrested for allegedly using fake voter ID cards during the recent organisational polls.

The relief was granted by the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate here to Abhi Vikram, Feny, Binil Binu and Vikas, police said.

It said the bail conditions would be known after the order copy is received.

The four were arrested by police on Wednesday.

The allegations of using fake voter ID cards had cropped up two days after the Youth Congress announced the result of its organisational poll.

Youth Congress leader Rahul Mankoottathil was elected president of the state organisation in the polls held a few weeks ago.

A case was registered in the matter on the direction of the Chief Electoral Officer of the state, who had received complaints that fake voter ID cards were used during the Youth Congress organisational polls.

Chief Electoral Officer Sanjay M Kaul had on November 17 forwarded the complaints his office received to the state police chief, urging appropriate action against the culprits involved in the fraud.

An eight-member special investigation team was constituted to probe the case.

An FIR has been registered in the matter under multiple sections of the Indian Penal Code, including 468 (forgery for the purpose of cheating) and 471 (Using as genuine a forged document).

Laptops, mobile phones and fake election photo identification cards were seized from the accused.

The Youth Congress had denied the allegations.

BJP state president K Surendran had accused a faction of the Congress in Kerala of creating fake voter ID cards and warned of its serious implications, suggesting potential misuse in general elections and for acquiring SIM cards.

He had blamed a Congress MLA for the creation of an application for creating fake IDs and claimed that top Congress leaders, including K C Venugopal and V D Satheesan, were aware of it.

CPI(M) state secretary M V Govindan had said it was a serious matter and called for an urgent and comprehensive investigation.

The Left party had approached the Election Commission, expressing concern that the use of fake voter ID cards could pose a significant threat to democracy. PTI HMP HMP ROH