The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : `It is not for me to go into complaints against employees'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Jun 20, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

`It is not for me to go into complaints against employees'

By Our Special Correspondent

Photo: Vino John

P.J. Thomas, Chief Electoral Officer, Kerala (second from right), from the Ministers, C. Ponnaiyan (left) and O. Paneerselvam, complaints of deletions from voter lists at the Secretariat in Chennai on Saturday. Looking on is Mrutyunjay Sarangi, Chief Electoral Officer, Tamil Nadu.

CHENNAI, JUNE 19. Even as the All-India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) made claims and counter-claims on the role of government employees in the large-scale deletion of names from electoral rolls, the Chief Electoral Officer of Kerala, P.J. Thomas, who is conducting an inquiry, today said the complaints against the employees would not be looked into at his level.

Shortly after meeting representatives of the AIADMK and the DMK at the Secretariat here, he told reporters that his mandate was to inquire into complaints of large-scale deletions and suggest remedial measures.

The AIADMK delegation comprised the Minister for Public Works, O. Paneerselvam, and the Finance Minister, C. Ponnaiyan, while the DMK team was led by the treasurer, Arcot N. Veerasamy.

Mr. Thomas said both the parties submitted comprehensive memoranda, which he would examine. The AIADMK had alleged deletion of about 30 lakh names. The DMK had not specified the number. The parties had given constituency-wise details and demanded steps to avoid such deletions in future.

Asked whether these parties demanded a fresh enumeration, he said "new voter list preparation requires the approval of the Election Commission of India." He would receive complaints on deletions through the District Collectors till June 21.

Replying to a query, he said though there was no specific complaint against government employees, it was part of the general complaint on deletions. Asked whether the allegation against the employees on election duty amounted to a complaint against the Election Commission itself, he said it was a "funny equation."

Mr. Thomas said he would visit other districts before submitting his report on August 7.

Mr. Ponnaiyan said the AIADMK submitted details of irregularities to Mr. Thomas "confidentially." Had these irregularities not been committed, the party would have bagged all 40 Lok Sabha seats in the State and Pondicherry, he said.

Releasing copies of the memorandum submitted to Mr. Thomas, Mr. Veerasamy said large-scale deletion of Opposition voters, persons belonging to minority communities and government employees, was done to protect the AIADMK's interest in the election. In each Assembly segment, 15,000-25,000 votes had been deleted, he said, adding that in Anna Nagar here alone about 15,000 names were deleted.

The party submitted evidence to show that the names provided by AIADMK activists were included in the rolls even without door numbers in some cases, while genuine requests of the DMK were ignored, Mr. Veerasamy said.

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