Chennai: The Opposition AIADMK which got a drubbing in the rural local body polls has alleged that the ruling DMK won the elections through unfair means and by unleashing violence across the State.
The party said that they had submitted several complaints about the violence being unleashed by the DMK to the State Election Commission but the SEC did not act on them.
Former Chief Ministers and AIADMK coordinator and co-coordinator, O. Panneerselvam and Edappadi K. Palaniswami alleged that unprecedented violence was unleashed by the DMK cadres in many areas during the rural local body elections. They said that the SEC was relegated to a ‘Puppet’ in the hands of the DMK.
The AIADMK leaders said that when they were in power, the elections to the Lok Sabha and Assembly were held in a single phase but the DMK government conducted the rural local body polls in two phases. The party leaders in the statement said that they had moved the Madras High Court against this.
They said that the SEC had given an undertaking to the High Court that it would conduct the elections according to the directions of the court. The AIADMK alleged that despite being an autonomous body, the SEC was made a ‘puppet’ in the hands of the DMK.
The AIADMK leaders said that they had petitioned the SEC that Ranipet District Collector, Bhaskara Pandian was acting at the behest of the ruling party and had requested his transfer but to no avail. The statement said that the SEC had rejected the candidature in two district panchayat wards and four panchayat union wards of AIADMK nominees in Kallakuruchi district. The leaders said that they had given a written complaint against this to the SEC but the election commission did not act.
The AIADMK said that in several election booths, the party representatives were not allowed to sit and the media was also not allowed to report. They said that they had given seven petitions to the SEC and added that they would prove before the Madras High Court that the victory of the DMK was through unfair means.
