: High drama was witnessed at the M. Kumarasamy College of Engineering in Thalavaipalayam near here on Tuesday after the authorities allegedly refused to allow the Aravakurichi Assembly constituency candidates of the BJP and the DMDK into the counting hall.
The trouble started when the two candidates – S. Prabhu of the BJP and M. Muthu of the DMDK – accompanied by their respective agents, were asked to wait at the entrance of the counting hall at 7.45 am, apparently due to paucity of space inside the counting hall. Cadre of both the parties became restless as the wait continued beyond 8 am, the scheduled time for the commencement of the counting.
Unable to enter the counting hall, the candidates of both the parties along with their respective agents indulged in sloganeering against the officials. The agitated cadre, who went out of the counting centre, attempted to stage a road roko on the Dindigul-Bengaluru Highway. Following this, the police detained all of them and took them to Karur in a police bus.
However, after some time, apparently on the intervention of senior officials following the complaint lodged with the Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni, all those detained were again brought to the counting centre, where the protesters staged a sit-in dharna. This forced the officials to hold talks with the agitating party functionaries, who demanded that the counting be stopped immediately.
“Counting has taken place without the presence of the candidates and the agents belonging to recognised and registered political parties. We were not allowed into the counting hall. Officials have failed to listen to our grievances,” said the BJP candidate Mr. Prabhu.
However, officials claimed that no candidate or authorised agent was denied entry into the counting hall. Since there were 39 candidates in the fray, a large number of agents had entered the counting hall.
The restrictions might have caused inconvenience to some, they added.
