AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa on Thursday alleged the Election Commission’s actions were “anti-people and anti-democratic” as “it was applying a different yardstick for the party.”
Speaking at Karamadai here that comes under The Nilgiris Lok Sabha constituency, she asked why the EC told only the AIADMK that if she — the party’s star campaigner — mentioned the candidates’ names or had them on the stage in her campaigns or had the candidates’ picture on the stage, the expenditure incurred for the meetings would be added to the candidates’ account.
The Commission had also said that it would add the expenses incurred for taking people to the meeting venues. It was unfair on its part to say so. It had never done so .
People arrived at meeting venues on their own volition. How could she prevent people from coming to the meeting to see her, she asked. This was not the way the EC dealt with the DMK or other parties. When DMK president M. Karunanidhi held public meetings or when that party treasurer M.K. Stalin campaigned from his vehicle, the candidates were allowed to be with them.
As for the rival parties’ remarks on her campaign, she said it only betrayed their frustration that the AIADMK would romp home in all the 40 seats in Tamil Nadu and Puducherry.
This could be inferred from Mr. Karunanidhi’s speech a few days ago wherein he had said that even if the AIADMK were to win 40 seats, she would not become prime minister, she said and added that this went on to show that even the DMK was certain of the AIADMK winning all the seats.
She took on the DMK’s candidate for The Nilgiris constituency, A. Raja, asking if what he had done in the 2G spectrum allocation was above board and transparent, why did the Supreme Court cancel 122 licences.
Likewise, if the DMK was not a beneficiary of the 2G spectrum scam, why was it that Mr. Karunanidhi had not filed a defamation suit or sought legal action against those who leaked the tapes that contained conversations, which alleged that his family had tried to correct the Kalaignar TV accounts. She also wanted to know why his partymen and family members spoke to lobbyist Niira Radia if the spectrum allocation was fair, as claimed by Mr. Raja.
