The Election Commission has made it clear that voters would be allowed to exercise their franchise in the April 13 Tamil Nadu assembly polls either by displaying Elector’s Photo Identity Card (EPIC) or by using voter’s slip.
“They have to either bring the EPIC card or the voter’s slip to the polling booth for casting their vote,” Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar told reporters here.
Stating that voter’s slip would be distributed door-to-door, he said the process would begin on April 1 in Chennai as the printing of slips were underway.
Mr. Kumar called the door-to-door issuing of voter’s slip a “challenge” and added there were 54,000 booths in Tamil Nadu.
Meanwhile, the EC today announced a television and print campaign starring film stars and television personalities to urge the public to cast their vote.
The campaign, which contains non-political film stars such as actors Suriya and ‘Jayam’ Ravi, Rohini and television personalities such as Gopinath, would be aired on television channels, Mr. Kumar said.
The music for the footage has been scored by music director Vijay Antony and it would last 15-30 seconds, Mr. Kumar said. “I hope some television channels would air them. Channels strike people at the heart”, he said.
Mr. Kumar added posters carrying slogans such as “Say Yes to Vote, No to Money” both in English and Tamil, would be pasted at important places to urge people to desist from accepting cash to cast their votes.
“There are the promises made by political parties. We do not play a role in it. What we want is to make it as a level playing field for all (the parties). What we don’t allow is to bribing the voters”, he said.
While the ruling DMK in its manifesto has assured of free grinders or mixers and laptops for students, AIADMK has said it would give 20 kgs of rice besides providing free grinders, mixers and fans for voters.
On the seizure of unaccounted money, he said as of yesterday, the Income Tax (Investigation) wing had seized Rs 20 crore. After verifying the documents regarding the seized sum, they would be handed back to the owners, he said.
Asked about the development in Tiruppur district where the number of contesting candidates has breached the 100 mark, he said ballot papers would be issued in such cases. Electronic Voting Machines can only be used where there are 64 or fewer number of candidates.
Mr. Kumar added the EC had received about 44,000 complaints of defacement and had lodged 202 cases for misuse of vehicles.
Asked about the manifestos of some political parties that promise freebies such as grinders, mixies and laptops, Mr. Kumar said the EC does not play a role in such issues.
