Chief Minister asks Election Commission to ensure free and fair by-poll in Vikravandi constituency

The PMK has written to the Election Commission (EC) and Tamil Nadu Chief Election Officer Satyabrata Sahoo, seeking their intervention to ensure free and fair polling in the by-elections to the Vikravandi Assembly constituency, scheduled for July 10.

PMK spokesperson K Bal, in a representation submitted to the constituency’s Deputy Electoral Officer K Yubaraj on Tuesday, said the ruling DMK has appointed an election task force comprising ministers of each panchayat union in Vikravandi and hence the Election Commission needs to work intensively and continuously on the constituency.

While DMK leaders and ministers will no doubt be involved in electioneering for party candidates, working in panchayat unions till the elections would be a violation of the Model Code of Conduct, he pointed out.

Meanwhile, PMK candidate in the by-election, C. Anbumani, has filed a complaint addressed to Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar and Sahoo, alleging that the presence of nine DMK ministers and one MP, who have been asked to camp in the union as part of an “election squad”, will influence the local administration and adversely affect the free and fair conduct of elections.

In the letter, he alleged that ministers were exerting influence over electoral officials and local council representatives by claiming that they could strip local councillors of their powers if they did not cooperate with the ruling party.

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“In particular, the Pannaiyapuram panchayat chairman was threatened by the ministers,” Anbumani said. Ministers K Ponmudi, K N Nehru, EV Velu, MRK Panneerselvam, R Sakkarapani, TM Anbarasan, SS Sivasankar, CV Ganesan, Anvil Mahesh Poyamozhi and MP S Jagatrakshagan have been appointed to the election team.