Stalin flays 2-phase polls, terms SEC AIADMK ‘ally’
CHENNAI: Slamming the State Election Commission (SEC) and state government for announcing two-phase election for rural local bodies, principal opposition party DMK on Monday said the AIADMK and its ‘ally’ SEC have come forward to conduct polls hoping that someone would move the court and stop it. The party also revealed its intention to legally challenge the poll notification.
Describing the poll announcement as ‘amusing,’ DMK president MK Stalin on Monday sought to know if the commissioner of SEC was R Palaniswamy or Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami. Reiterating that DMK did not move the court to stop the polls and some welfare organisations and political parties have also moved the Court for completion of delimitation exercise and free and fair elections, Stalin said that be it Lok Sabha, Assembly or local body polls, they have always happened in a single phase in Tamil Nadu. “It is amusing that the SEC has announced now that polls will be conducted for rural local bodies first and later for urban local bodies,” Stalin told media persons, before wondering if the “person at SEC was election commissioner Palaniswamy or CM K Palaniswami?”
In a statement issued earlier in the day, Stalin said the SEC has stooped to such a level that it could operate from a corner of the AIADMK headquarters. Later when reporters sought to know if the DMK would hold talks with its allies since filing of nominations begin on December 6, Stalin said they would consult their legal luminaries regarding the poll announcement.
Referring to the hearing of their petition moved by his party in the SC scheduled for Thursday, Stalin said they were making all efforts at the SC to conduct local body polls in a free and fair manner. Later in the evening, DMK president Stalin held a consultation with his treasurer and party advocates in connection with local body poll announcement.