Despite two years of rigorous campaign, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) drew a blank in the just concluded Assembly polls. The only consolation was that it secured a vote share of 5.3 per cent. However, its founder S. Ramadoss refuses to believe the idea of a change did not reach the people. Cash and rigging of EVMs were the primary reason for the defeat, he says. Excerpts from an interview he gaveSruthisagar Yamunan :
The PMK has not won a single seat and your chief ministerial candidate Anbumani Ramadoss has also lost. Has your campaign failed?
RAMADOSS: I don’t agree. Our electoral slogans reached every nook and corner of the State. Dr. Anbumani has now been recognised as a leader of great substance given his campaign that focussed on development. Cash was an important reason why we lost. Both the Dravidian parties drowned the State with cash. This and other reasons cost us.
What other reasons are you referring to?
I suspect there was widespread rigging of Electronic Voting Machines (EVM). As early as in 2009, I raised this issue with the Election Commission and even offered to demonstrate how this could be done. But no one listened to me. Now we are seeing the results. Even developed democracies have done away with the machines. I will take this issue up in a big manner again.
But no one else has made such an allegation. Since 2009, the country has seen so many elections. Even in Dharmapuri, you won in 2014.
That is because the EC refuses to listen to any of us. Even BJP leader Subramanian Swamy raised this. The court asked the EC to listen to us but they did not. After we raised this issue, the Commission introduced voter-verified paper audit in some constituencies. What stops them from extending this facility to all seats? Because if they do, they know it will become very clear the machines could be easily tampered with. People will rise against it. Likewise, opinion polls should also be banned given how it has influenced voters this time.
If cash is the problem, how did the DMK win so many seats being in the Opposition?
The problem is the media turned a blind eye to this menace since some of the media has been compromised by the entry of owners who have criminal background. There was tacit understanding between the AIADMK and the DMK in distribution of cash. When one distributed, the other did not raise its voice. The results only prove that both have given cash in equal measure. Also, the EC has suspended elections in only two seats as though nothing happened in other places. But they seized cash in so many places. The candidates who gave cash should be disqualified from contesting elections. Without this, deferring the polls is an eye wash.
The results show that you have performed very poorly in southern districts. Do you now agree that the party is trapped in this sectarian and geographical trap and you are unable to come out of it?
It is true we did not focus properly on south Tamil Nadu all these years. After a long time, we have contested in all seats and have registered our presence. We will now focus on the south. Even in this, the two major parties work together to ensure no new outfit emerges in that territory. Also, the other parties put together have polled 22 per cent but we have got no seats. About 59 per cent of voters have rejected the AIADMK, but they have won. This is why we are demanding proportional representation system which even the law commissions suggested.
Do you see any chance of capturing power by your party in the near future after this huge loss?
Both the DMK and the AIADMK leadership have sensational corruption cases against them. In another six months, the judgment in the 2G case and the disproportionate assets of Chief Minister Jayalalithaa will come out. After this, there will be a tectonic shift in the politics of Tamil Nadu. And given our campaign, we will emerge as the main choice of the people.
“Even developed democracies have done away with machines. I will take this issue up in a big manner again”
