The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : Election observer cracks down on violations

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, May 06, 2005

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

Election observer cracks down on violations

S. Dorairaj

Party vehicles impounded, arches ordered demolished in Gummidipoondi constituency

GUMMIDIPOONDI.: "Whoever breaches the Model Code of Conduct, action will be taken against them!" — This has been the refrain of the Election Commission's Special Observer, K.J. Rao, who directed the police and other officials concerned to take immediate action against several code violations unearthed by him at the Gummidipoondi Assembly Constituency on Thursday.

Mr. Rao began his inspection after discussions with the Collector, C. Thangaswami, Superintendent of Police V. Varadharaju, Election Observers Chatrapati Sivaji and Bidari Srinivas, Revenue Divisional Officer, Tiruvallur, Uma Maheswari, and other officials at the Tiruvallur Collectorate.

Interacting with the representatives of the political parties, he said the model code would be implemented strictly, without any partiality.

Mr. Rao, who inspected several villages along the Tiruvallur-Periyapalayam road and Periyapalayam-Gummidipoondi highway, ordered impounding of vehicles which were used for election campaign without passes.

As the convoy was going to Periyapalayam, he spotted a van with flags of the Mutharayar Sangam and a poster bearing the election symbol of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK) near Vengal village. He asked the police to confiscate it.

Vehicles impounded

Within a few minutes, two vehicles used by the Opposition Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) and another vehicle used by the Pattali Makkal Katchi were impounded at Pagalmedu village on the same ground. A van and a jeep used by Democratic Progressive Alliance (DPA) activists were impounded at Perumal Colony and Panapakkam respectively.

At Vadamadurai village, he asked the owner of a house to explain why so many vehicles were parked outside. A State Minister and some AIADMK activists were present there then. As the owner claimed that they had come there for his granddaughter's ear-piercing ceremony, Mr. Rao told him that the vehicles should leave after the function was over. He also instructed that the numbers of all the vehicles parked there should be recorded.

He ordered the immediate dismantling of two thatched structures "unauthorisedly" put up by the DMK and the AIADMK on the roadside at Pagalmedu village. Mr. Rao found public address systems installed by the two parties at two different places at Vengal village. After verifying facts with the local police station, he asked the parties not to use public address systems without police permission.

Mr. Rao ordered the removal of a couple of huge AIADMK hoardings at Vadamadurai and a Dalit Panthers of India's hoarding nearby. He asked the officials to take immediate steps to dismantle two huge scaffoldings erected by the AIADMK near Periyapalayam.

Meanwhile, the DMK treasurer, Arcot N. Veerasamy, complained to Mr. Rao at Gummidipoondi that the AIADMK tried to "misuse self-help groups for political purposes and bring outsiders to intimidate the electorate and DPA activists."

AIADMK district secretary R.S. Mani alleged that the Union Ministers belonging to the DPA violated the model code by visiting the constituency with their security personnel. The district secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), P. Sundararajan, pleaded with the Special Observer to ensure that the State Minister's stay in the constituency did not come in the way of holding a free and fair poll.

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