The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Victory for money and muscle power: Vaiko

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 18, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Victory for money and muscle power: Vaiko

Special Correspondent

CHENNAI: "It was a victory for money and muscle power," said MDMK general secretary Vaiko, reacting to DMK's victory in the by-election to the Madurai Central constituency. In a statement here on Tuesday, Mr. Vaiko charged that the ruling party volunteers adopted all kinds of unfair practices, including the distribution of money to voters, to lure voters. They also terrorised the voters by warning them of serious consequences if they did not vote for the ruling party. When the AIADMK and MDMK workers caught such cadres and handed them over to the police, cases were registered only against the opposition party men, he alleged.

Mr. Vaiko also charged that the two election observers appointed by the Election Commission failed to discharge their duties, and that the fact that these observers were withdrawn by the commission proved that there were malpractices in the conduct of the by-election. In short, it was a pyrrhic victory for the ruling party, he added.

The Union Minister of State for Statistics, G.K. Vasan, said the victory would be a forerunner for the Democratic Progressive Alliance victory in the local body elections.

The win indicated the success of the many welfare programmes being implemented in the State by the Central and State Governments. Dravidar Kazhagam president K. Veeramani said the win was an endorsement for the State Government's policies and programmes.

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