Opposition parties led by DMK have called for criminal action to be initiated against Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami and five of his Cabinet colleagues, on the basis of the Election Commission of India’s direction to the Chief Electoral Officer to register an FIR against them for alleged electoral malpractices in the Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar Assembly constituency.
Soon after it became known through an application under the RTI Act that the ECI had favoured prosecution of the Chief Minister and five Ministers, besides the AIADMK (Amma) leader T.T.V. Dhinakaran, DMK working president M.K. Stalin issued a statement targeting Mr. Palaniswami.
Describing the Chief Minister as the “captain of the teams” that, according to him, distributed money to voters in R. K. Nagar, he demanded that a criminal case be filed against Mr. Palaniswami. “The Chief Electoral Officer, the Chief Secretary and the City Police Commissioner should follow the direction of the Election Commission and file a criminal case against Mr. Palaniswami. If not, the DMK will approach the High Court,” he said.
Mr Stalin alleged that the after the R.K. Nagar by-election was cancelled, no action was taken against Mr. Palaniswami or his Cabinet colleagues, who were allegedly named in documents seized by the Income Tax Department from the house of Health Minister C. Vijaya Baskar.
PMK fonder S. Ramadoss also demanded the resignation of the Palaniswami government and called upon the Election Commission to openly direct the Tamil Nadu Governor to file a case against the Chief Minister and his Cabinet colleagues.
“The EC has failed in its duty. It should not think its role was over with cancellation of the by-election. It should ensure a case is filed against them,” he said.
In Dindigul, BJP leader Tamilisai Soundararajan said her party wanted all those charged with electoral malpractices to be booked. “It is up to the Chief Minister to decide whether he should continue in the office or not. However, whoever is found guilty, should be punished,” she said.
