Complaints Pour In On The Eve Of Polls
Chennai: Major political parties in the state, DMK and AIADMK, on Thursday accused the State Assembly of distributing money to voters on the eve of elections, even as the election machinery moves to welcome voters to exercise their right to vote at 75,064 polling booths across the state from 7 am.
Some candidates and others made private complaints about irregularities by political parties, and party leaders appealed to party members to cast their votes before noon and escape the scorching summer heat. DMK President and Chief Minister MK Stalin appealed to the polling officers (BLA2, BLC and BDA) to keep vigil on the conduct of the elections as soon as the voting begins.
Apart from accusations of distributing money to voters, some candidates and individuals have complained to Chief Electoral Officer Archana Patnaik, accusing rival parties of keeping foreigners within their constituencies and seeking their eviction.
A large sum of cash worth Rs 1.5 billion was seized from a house in Mylapore by officials, who said the money was kept for distribution by the DMK. Patnaik said the value of the seized cash and souvenirs was Rs 126.2 billion.
Police and security personnel affiliated with the central forces were stationed at the polling stations in sensitive areas, and other polling officers started working to conduct the elections, which would last until 18:00. Anyone who enters the booth building until 18.00 will be allowed to vote after waiting their turn, even if there is a long queue at that time.
Besides Stalin, other political party leaders also instructed their followers to definitely vote. Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) president Vijay asked his supporters to vote between 7 am and 12 noon and ensure 100 per cent polling.
Making a strange claim against TVK, L Devasahayam of Vyasarpadi said that the ‘Largest Online Political Campaign’ announced by the party on social media platforms on April 21 violated election norms as 48 hours of silence had to be observed before the polls.
P Adikesavan from Mylapore said a plan is afoot to make videos of people casting their votes in favor of TVK and then make the images go viral on social media platforms like Facebook, X, Instagram and others.
The live telecast of the polling was against the rules and would also create a false narrative about the people’s political preference, he said, adding that the TVK did it in the recent elections to the Puducherry Assembly elections.
The final voter rolls prepared on April 6 include a total of 5,73,43,291 voters, including 2,80,30,658 men, 2,93,04,905 women and 7,728 third gender voters, and they will visit 75,064 polling stations and 33,211 polling places to exercise their voting rights on April 23.
