Son refuses to vote for mother in India election then explains why on Facebook after she loses by six votes

The post has been shared over 11,000 times and has more than 1,500 comments

The BJP's flag flying (Rex Features)

A son refused to vote for his mother in a local election - contributing to her narrow defeat by just six votes.

Rajesh Kumar, a police officer in the southern Indian state of Kerala, used a Facebook post to explain why his ballot did not go to his parent in the council election.

The post, which is written in the local language of Malayalam, has been shared over 11,000 times and has more than 1,500 comments.

Mr Kumar said he voting against his mother because he was wanted to help “125 million of my brothers”, referring to the people living in the western state of Gujarat.

He went on to describe how a lack of facilities and education meant 70% of those people still defecate in the open air. He added that there are no cities in Gujarat in the top 50 clean cities of India.

Criticising the campaign run by his his mother's right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) he said former Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi - now the country's Prime Minister - "who had ruled for 15 years in a row” had left Gujarat in “28th position” in the primary education index and had little education on sanitation and cleanliness.

Mr Kumar, who instead voted for the opposition Left Democratic Front coalition, led by the Communist Party of India, wrote: “I am proud that I did not let my love for my mother stop me from doing my duty towards the nation”.

His mother, Jagadamma, secured 353 votes - just six short of the winning candidate.

Positive comments on Mr Kumar's Facebook post included on saying: “Really appreciate your act and you are a real patriot."

Another said “Our country would have been a beautiful place if we had more people like you."

Not everyone approved of Mr Kumar's actions.

One comment read: “It’s really unfortunate that when a person insults his mother in public and posts it on a social site for publicity of a political party, some people are calling him patriot and saluting him”.

Some thought it was political propaganda, while one user wrote: “If you do not love your mother, you cannot love your motherland."

Mr Kumar told BBC Trending that his decision not to vote for his mother had not affected their relationship.

He said: “She’s one of the strongest people I know and we have a very close relationship. My mother said that I have every right to choose my own political stance.”