CHENNAI: Days after the DMK registered a landslide victory in the urban local body polls, AIADMK joint coordinator and former chief minister Edappadi K Palaniswami on Thursday accused the ruling party of winning through electoral malpractices and bogus votes. He said the AIADMK would move court against the alleged rigging of electronic voting machines to favour the DMK. Party coordinator O Panneerselvam said the AIADMK would record a resounding victory in the 2024 general elections.
After visiting former minister D Jayakumar in Puzhal prison, Palaniswami alleged that the DMK won the poll by casting bogus votes and paying Rs3,000 to Rs5,000 to each voter from the looted money in the last nine months.
“The DMK did not win the polls in a democratic manner. It was a murder of democracy. The state election commission acted as a puppet of the state and the police was at the DMK’s service,” the former CM said, adding that his party would consult its legal team. Palaniswami alleged that the DMK had always unleashed unruliness and took revenge to decimate opponents when in power. The AIADMK had overcome the repressive measures of the DMK from the days of party founder M G Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa. DMK members had assaulted Jayalalithaa on the floor of assembly, he said. After her demise, the DMK had made attempts to split the AIADMK and buy MLAs and even resorted to violence in the assembly when he moved a motion of vote of confidence, he charged. “The DMK and its leader don’t respect law. None can crush the AIADMK as long as cadres remain with us,” he said.
Meanwhile, Panneerselvam strongly condemned TNCC president K S Alagiri for stating that the future of the AIADMK was questionable after the urban local body polls. In a statement, the former chief minister said the AIADMK had won six out of 16 assembly elections and had ruled the state for three decades. The party never went disheartened by the electoral defeats, instead it only returned to power. “The daydream of TNCC president on AIADMK’s future would never materialise. The Congress that rides piggyback on others has no moral right to talk about the AIADMK,” said Panneerselvam.
