CPI to lodge complaint seeking polling booth

At present, voters in Kathirimalai tribal hamlet are forced to walk 30 km to reach the nearest polling station

N. Periyasamy of Communist Party of India, the former MLA, told The Hindu that the party would be immediately lodging a complaint with Election Commission of India against the lethargic approach of the election officials in considering the plea for polling station at Kathirimalai tribal hamlet.

“They have added two more polling stations in the recent weeks in Tirupur Lok Sabha constituency but did not consider the case of Kathirimalai which lies in the Anthiyur area in Tirupur Lok Sabha constituency despite the issue was raised in advance.

“In the present scenario, the voters, totalling almost 100, in the hamlet, have to either walk almost 30 kms or travel about 100 kms if they opt for motorised transportation, to reach the nearest polling station assigned,” he pointed out.

Mr. Periyasamy questioned that if the election officials could assign polling stations for much lesser number of voters in some parts of the country, why they were not considering Kathirimalai.

He told this after the meeting which the Returning Officer conducted with the candidates at Tirupur Collectorate on Thursday.

The interaction was dominated by the discussions among the political party representatives on incidences pertaining to huge delays/administrative lethargy in giving permission to the electioneering in public places, denying permissions to campaigns without giving sensible replies and issues connected to poll expenditure and advertisements, among few others.

Identity cards

Lok Satta Party members questioned the Returning Officer and the other election officials and sought explanation on why the officials assigned for election duties were not wearing identity cards/name badges, which was a violation of the Government order.

AAP candidate R. Chakravarthi pointed out that he was not given permission on an occasion to do campaign on foot and without any loud speakers. Collector and Returning Officer G. Govindaraj said that according to the new list, 13,75,318 voters were there in Tirupur constituency. However, the lacks of proper communication from the Collectorate were preventing the media persons from assessing the details/preparations connected to elections, he added.