The AIADMK and the DMK have asked the Election Commission (EC) to hold the Assembly elections on the same day in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
The party leaders raised the demand while presenting their memorandums separately to an EC delegation led by Umesh Sinha, Secretary General. The delegation is in the Union Territory to review measures ahead of the elections scheduled next year.
The two parties contended that simultaneous elections in both places were warranted as several regions in Puducherry and Karaikal in the Union Territory were geographically contiguous with Tamil Nadu. The delegation agreed to examine the demand and take a decision accordingly.
The political parties also asked the delegation to purge the names of the deceased from the voters’ list as the State Election Department had failed to do so.
In a memorandum, AIADMK leaders A. Anbalagan and Om Sakthi Sekar urged the EC to bifurcate polling booths that had more than 1,000 votes in view of the COVID-19 situation. The AIADMK also sought the deployment of new Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in polling booths.
DMK leaders R. Siva and S.P. Sivakumar, in their memorandum, urged the EC not to allow postal ballots for people above 80 years as their votes could be misused. The leaders wanted a special passage provided for them to come and vote in the booth. The DMK also appealed for the bifurcation of polling booths with more than 1,000 votes.
The Congress, represented by A.V. Subramanian, Puducherry PCC president, along with other the parties, wanted officials with knowledge of the Tamil language to be posted as election officials. The BJP, in its memorandum submitted by Embalam R. Selvam, had also raised this demand. However, the EC said it would not be possible.
CPI(M) leader R. Rajangam, in a memorandum, sought the replacement of the District Election Officer and other election officials who were hand-picked by Lt. Governor Kiran Bedi.
Before it it met representatives of various political parties, the EC team held discussions with Chief Electoral Officer Shurbir Singh, District Election Officer Purva Garg, Karaikal District Election Officer Arjun Sharma and other officials.
