SALEM: AIADMK joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami on Sunday said the Tamil Nadu The election commission had failed to conduct the urban local body election in a fair and free manner. “The SEC has become the puppet of the ruling party,” he told reporters in Salem, adding that the police department too had “turned a mute spectator to the drama staged by the ruling DMK Functionaries across the state” during the civic polls held on Saturday.
After chairing a meeting with party candidates at the AIADMK office in Omalur in Salem district on Sunday, EPS told reporters that voters in Chennai and Coimbatore corporations did not come out to exercise their franchise because they feared that the law and order had collapsed in the state . This resulted in reducing voting percentage drastically, said EPS. “The same voters were enthusiastic in casting their votes when the AIADMK was in office during the 2021 assembly election,” he said.
EPS recalled that former AIADMK minister SP Velumani had led a delegation of AIADMK MLAs on Monday and handed over a petition to the Coimbatore district collector and the police commissioner in which they stated that the ruling DMK had deployed goons to create a ruckus and disrupt the law and order situation during the urban local body election. The former minister said the DMK party “goons” should be chased out of the Coimbatore district.
Citing this, Palaniswami said they later approached the Madras high court, pointing out that the Coimbatore district administration had failed to act on their petition. The high court then directed the state government to depute a special officer to monitor the election.
Palaniswami alleged that the ruling party cadres indulged in bogus voting in several polling booths. “The DMK partymen committed these atrocities, violating Madras high court directions,” he said, adding that people had lost faith in the DMK. “That’s the reason why the ruling party indulged in these cheap tricks,” EPS alleged.
Palaniswami expressed hope that the state election commission would follow the Madras high court directions at least during counting. “The counting should be recorded using CCTV cameras and officials should work without any bias,” he said, appealing to them to function in a neutral and objective fashion.
After chairing a meeting with party candidates at the AIADMK office in Omalur in Salem district on Sunday, EPS told reporters that voters in Chennai and Coimbatore corporations did not come out to exercise their franchise because they feared that the law and order had collapsed in the state . This resulted in reducing voting percentage drastically, said EPS. “The same voters were enthusiastic in casting their votes when the AIADMK was in office during the 2021 assembly election,” he said.
EPS recalled that former AIADMK minister SP Velumani had led a delegation of AIADMK MLAs on Monday and handed over a petition to the Coimbatore district collector and the police commissioner in which they stated that the ruling DMK had deployed goons to create a ruckus and disrupt the law and order situation during the urban local body election. The former minister said the DMK party “goons” should be chased out of the Coimbatore district.
Citing this, Palaniswami said they later approached the Madras high court, pointing out that the Coimbatore district administration had failed to act on their petition. The high court then directed the state government to depute a special officer to monitor the election.
Palaniswami alleged that the ruling party cadres indulged in bogus voting in several polling booths. “The DMK partymen committed these atrocities, violating Madras high court directions,” he said, adding that people had lost faith in the DMK. “That’s the reason why the ruling party indulged in these cheap tricks,” EPS alleged.
Palaniswami expressed hope that the state election commission would follow the Madras high court directions at least during counting. “The counting should be recorded using CCTV cameras and officials should work without any bias,” he said, appealing to them to function in a neutral and objective fashion.
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