The AIADMK and the DMK on Tuesday accused each other in the Assembly of having attempted to influence the outcome of the recently concluded rural local body elections by interfering during the counting process. Both the parties claimed they had the trust of voters.
The ruling AIADMK claimed that the elections were held so fairly that its own candidates lost by one vote in some instances. On its part, the DMK claimed that had the elections been held fairly, it would have bagged more seats.
Assembly Deputy Speaker Pollachi V. Jayaraman, who spoke first on the discussion on the motion of thanks to the Governor’s address, referred to the violence during the local body elections in Chennai when the DMK was in power in 2006 and described it as a murder of democracy.
Mr. Jayaraman added that it was the DMK which went to court to stop the 2019 local body elections multiple times. Lauding the AIADMK leadership for securing victory in the bypolls to the Vikravandi and Nanguneri Assembly constituencies, he pointed out that the winning margins in these constituencies were high.
Countering his claims, DMK MLA J. Anbazhagan (Chepauk-Triplicane), drew attention to an incident in Pudukkottai district, where a government servant was harassed and threatened by a ruling party MLA in the presence of a Minister.
Mr. Anbazhagan also claimed that the DMK was not against the elections, but only wanted to ensure that reservation and delimitation of wards were carried out properly. In response, Electricity Minister P. Thangamani said that the DMK Dharmapuri MP too had a quarrel with election officials. Forests Minister Dindigul C. Sreenivasan joined in alleging that DMK whip R. Sakkarapani was in a counting centre, interfering in the process in Dindigul district.
While Mr. Sakkarapani clarified his position, DMK Deputy Floor Leader Duraimurugan refused to accept that the elections were held in a fair manner.
