The police registered two cases against Tamil Nadu BJP president K. Annamalai, party functionaries and cadre for various offences, including unlawful assembly, for their alleged election campaigning at Ondipudur in Coimbatore post 10 p.m. on Sunday.
The Singanallur police registered a case against Mr. Annamalai, party functionaries R. Doraisamy alias ‘Challenger’ Durai, Vijayakumar, Chidambaram and BJP cadre, based on the complaint lodged by an election flying squad team official.
They were booked for offences under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly), 286 (negligent conduct with respect to explosive substance), 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) and 290 (punishment for public nuisance in cases not otherwise provided for) of the Indian Penal Code.
After the election campaigning at Pattanam Pudur completed at 10 p.m., the accused involved in election campaigning burst fire crackers at Kamatchipuram on Tiruchi Road from 10.15 to 10.45 p.m., according to the police.
The police purportedly stopped the convoy at around 10.30 p.m., on the grounds that the permitted time for campaigning concluded at 10 p.m. and directed them to go along an alternative route. However, Mr. Annamalai maintained that he was not campaigning, but only greeting people en route, with the lights of his vehicle switched off.
The stand-off had caused a traffic jam along the arterial Tiruchi Road. The incident took place at the border of the Coimbatore City Police and the Coimbatore District Police.
Protesting the police action, they staged a protest within the jurisdiction of the District Police near Irugur junction on Tiruchi Road. The Sulur police registered a case against Mr. Annamalai and others for offences under Sections 143 (unlawful assembly) and 341 (punishment for wrongful restraint) of the IPC.
With this, the number of cases registered against the BJP leader in Coimbatore increased to three within a week. On April 12, the Peelamedu police registered a case against him and others for similar charges, following a row over his alleged late-night campaigning at Avarampalayam in the city.
In a social media post after the incident, Mr. Annamalai said the “excesses of the DMK government through the police force had gone beyond all limits, as they stopped our campaign vehicle yet again today for flimsy reasons...The draconian DMK government will face the people’s wrath when Coimbatore will unanimously cast its vote on April 19, disapproving of the three years of misgovernance.”
