Tamil Nadu - Madurai   

Sound and fury mark Thirumangalam campaign

MADURAI: As the polling day nears, Thirumangalam is witnessing not only a high-voltage campaign but also heightened drama and action. Allegations of misuse of power, bribery and violation of the model code of conduct have been followed by pitched battles between ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and its principal rival All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam.

Since Sunday, there have been attacks on vehicles, especially those used by the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, and registration of cases against campaign managers of the opposition forcing the Election Commission to intervene. Two senior police officers, Deputy Inspector General of Police (Madurai Range) S. S. Krishnamoorthy, and Superintendent of Police (Madurai Rural) M. Manoharan have now been transferred at the instance of the EC.

When Chief Electoral Officer Naresh Gupta visited Madurai on Tuesday, he was flooded with complaints from the ruling party and the opposition.

He summed up the situation saying, “It is a matter of distress. A lot of wrong things have happened in the last couple of days. It is very unfortunate.”

The announcement of the bye-election came as a surprise to the ruling party. The opposition, with the added strength of the Left parties, were keen on ensuring that there was no repeat of the two earlier by-elections in Madurai district, which the DMK-led alliance had won by good margins.

In both these elections, the Chief Minister’s elder son, M. K. Azhagiri, was the key man.

Thirumangalam became a high-stakes constituency as both camps believed the result might be seen as a pointer to the outcome of the Lok Sabha election in April-May. Trouble started after midnight of Saturday when some DMK men held a few AIADMK volunteers “with cash packed in hundreds of plain covers.”

As news spread, there was stone throwing at several places; several AIADMK vehicles were attacked.

DMK’s chief agent K.R. Swaminathan said that he had submitted compact discs containing photographs of AIADMK cadres distributing money to voters as evidence to the police. Residents said that they had been getting money from both sides.

On Monday night, the convoy of film actor Ramarajan was attacked after he made some remarks against Mr. Azhagiri at an AIADMK election meeting.

The police, on Tuesday, filed “attempt to murder” cases against former Chief Minister O. Paneerselvam and 52 others and arrested Melur MLA R. Samy.

Mr. Paneerselvam alleged that Mr. Samy was beaten up by the police while he was returning from the campaign of the general secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, Vaiko. On Wednesday, the police filed a case of “attempt to murder” against senior AIADMK leader and former Assembly Speaker P.H. Pandian.

According to Mr. Vaiko, while the police arrested Mr. Samy, they did not act on the complaints filed by AIADMK men. “This showed that the custodians of law are one-sided,” he said.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) MP, P. Mohan, said despite complaints, the police remained mute spectators. Mr. Paneerselvam said that by registering cases against second line leaders of the AIADMK, the ruling party planned to disrupt the campaign.

There are 16 State Ministers, four Central Ministers and as many as 60 MLAs from the DMK camping in the constituency.

The AIADMK has deputed six former ministers and several of its MLAs.

Now the main demand of the opposition is deployment of Central forces to see through the election process and action against police officials who supported the ruling party.

There are 26 candidates in the fray and four contestants – DMK, AIADMK, DMDK and AISMK – represent political parties.

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