The AIADMK has petitioned the Chief Election Commissioner alleging widespread electoral malpractice by the DMK during the campaigning for the Yercaud Assembly by-election, and sought stringent action to stop acts of violence and distribution of cash and other benefits to voters in the constituency.
In a four-page letter to the CEC that was handed over by AIADMK MPs to the CEC on Friday, O. Panneerselvam, Finance Minister and treasurer of the party, alleged that DMK partymen were following the formula of rampant electoral malpractices and large-scale violence that they engineered during the Thirumangalam by-election of 2009.
The AIADMK alleged that DMK cadres led by their local leaders were distributing money, liquor and other benefits in kind to voters in Yercaud.
The letter also identified the DMK leaders, the amount of cash distributed per voter and the day and time that the malpractice occurred.
“Electoral officials were unable to prevent the same as the money was distributed suddenly in the early hours of the morning,” the AIADMK stated.
The ruling party claimed that the DMK had stationed “hooligans and rowdy elements in the entire Yercaud Assembly constituency to unleash violence and distribute money”.
The AIADMK also cited the attack on one of their functionaries in Periyakoundapuram village recently to buttress their charge that the DMK was indulging in “arson, rioting and violence” to intimidate voters.
Several cases of distribution of cash, saris, dhotis and other benefits were also highlighted in the letter to the CEC. Though DMK MP Kanimozhi’s visit to Yercaud featured a convoy of over 100 vehicles, no action was taken by authorities, the AIADMK complained.
According to the AIADMK, the DMK was making false charges against AIADMK leaders as a diversionary tactic even as its cadres continuously engaged in malpractice and irregularities, the letter said.
“This motivated and malicious act of DMK partymen is the exact replica of what happened during the Thirumangalam by-election…”, the AIADMK stated.
The memorandum submitted to the Election Commission by DMK Parliamentary Party leader T.R. Baalu making false charges against the AIADMK was an attempt to cover up their own misdeeds, the letter said.
