SIR will only create confusion, people should remain vigilant, says TN Congress chief
He also criticized actor-politician Vijay’s Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam for claiming that the state government and police had imposed restrictions on the party and said that he was not given permission to hold agitations many times and was arrested more than 20 times by the DMK government.
“But this does not mean that one should criticize the state government or police doing their duty. As a political party leader, he had the responsibility to take up the cause of the people and was arrested more than 20 times,” Selvaperunthagai said. he said.
Speaking to reporters in Sriperumbudur suburb after attending the party’s SIR meeting, the Congress leader said there was no need for SIR for now. “It was brought in haste during the monsoon season in Tamil Nadu. The BJP government and the Election Commission are trying to create confusion,” he said.
Teachers and anganwadi staff recruited for the survey revision work could report to duty only after 2 pm. Stating that they would work for about three hours and then go home, he hinted that the revision work might not be fully realized.
“The Commission claimed that a similar study was carried out in 2003. Why were the details removed from the website?” he asked. Selvaperunthagai urged voters to be careful and ensure their names are reflected in the electoral rolls. “They should not allow anyone to vote in their name or have their North Indian names entered in the voter list,” he said. He said the Congress had petitioned the Chief Electoral Officer on November 5 to suspend the ongoing SIR due to limited time and lack of a final list of booths.
In the presentation, Selvaperunthagai said the 30-day period required to number, verify and submit the forms was “humanly impossible” for booth-level officers and booth-level representatives to complete as it involved multiple rounds of verification.
“Without a clear and final booth list, the entire process will lead to confusion and injustice to genuine opinions,” he had said and added the SIR could be carried out based on the 2003 guidelines and not on the 2025 guidelines.
