The Hindu : Tamil Nadu / Chennai News : Polls over, but complaints persist

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Oct 25, 2006
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Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu - Chennai

Polls over, but complaints persist

K. Manikandan

Several candidates who lost elections plan to go to court

TAMBARAM : Tables are being wiped clean, seats dusted and floors mopped.

Council halls of rural and urban local bodies are all set to welcome a new set of elected representatives.

But some of the losers continue to make complaints about violations.

Most of the complainants are those who lost narrowly. Many of them plan to go to court if their appeals to the government machinery for re-counts fail.

Munusamy, who was placed third in the contest for president of Neelankarai village panchayat, alleged large-scale irregularities on polling day and during the counting.

He alleged that ballots were swapped and invalid votes also counted. However officials denied the charges.

S. Bhama, who contested as CPI (M) candidate from ward No. 7 (Madipakkam) for the panchayat union Councillor of St. Thomas Mount Block, lost by 13 votes.

Pleas rejected

Her pleas for re-counting were rejected, she pointed out. Officials said that even in the case of a tie, it was not necessary to re-count the votes as according to rules, the winner had to be decided by draw of lots.

Pointing out that counting of votes involved verification by officials and agents of candidates, residents wondered how there could be a huge difference in the number of votes during the initial counting and after the re-count.

A few of complainants have decided to go to court for remedy, while others are still not clear about what they plan to do.

Panchayat union meet

Apart from the six municipalities, 11 town panchayats and 25 village panchayats in Tambaram region, councillors of 24 wards of St. Thomas Mount Panchayat Union would also be meeting on Wednesday at the union office in Chitlapakkam.

Of the 24 wards, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and its allies have won 12, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam 9 and independents 3.

Of the 24 councillors, only one, Elumalai, was part of the council elected in 2001. Elections to the Panchayat Union councillors was intensely contested. C. Rajendran, elected chairman of the Panchayat Union last time, lost, but only after complaints of large-scale rigging in his ward, Kottivakkam.

M. A. Vaidyalingam, three-time Tambaram MLA, contested from ward No. 8 (Kovilambakkam) only to be defeated by a youth, C. Manimaran of the AIADMK.

Incidentally, the AIADMK has made a complete sweep in Kovilambakkam, where its partymen have won as panchayat president and as members of all the nine wards.

Though candidates in village panchayats contest as independents and contest on symbols given by the State Election Commission, most are primary members of political parties.

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