On the day Chief Minister Jayalalithaa fielded her party candidates for the by-election to the local bodies, DMK president M. Karunanidhi announced his party’s decision to boycott the polls on the ground that the opposition was not even allowed adequate time to identify their candidates.
After her election as the general secretary of the AIADMK, Ms Jayalalithaa on Friday released the list of candidates for local bodies including the three Municipal Corporations.
She named Coimbatore City unit secretary Ganapathy P. Kumar as the candidate for Coimbatore Municipal Corporation. Tirunelveli district women's wing assistant secretary E. Bhuvaneswari is the candidate for the Tirunelveli Municipal Corporation and Tuticorin district women's wing assistant secretary A.P.R. Antony Graci is the candidate for the Tuticorin Municipal Corporation
Mr Karunanidhi said the announcement of the election by the State Election Commission after allowing the ruling party to prepare its candidates had proved beyond doubt that that the Election Commission would favour the AIADMK.
The DMK leader said the by-election to the local bodies became a farce since the date for the same was fixed on August 6 only to be changed to another date.
“The date was changed with a view to allow Chief Minister Jayalalithaa to make announcements under 110 of the Assembly rules. She used the opportunity to announced Rs 2,377 crore scheme for Coimbatore and Rs 800 crore underground sewage scheme for Tutircorin and Tirunelveli Corporations,” he alleged.
Mr Karunanidhi said it was for the State Election Commission to explain whether it was not against rules on the part of the Chief Minister to make such announcements instead of allowing the Minister handling the portfolios.
He said nothing could be farcical than the announcement of election to Cuddalore Municipality exactly a day after the Chairman resigned his post.
