Tamil Nadu   

Violence mars Velampalayam polls

Staff Reporter

Tirupur: Violence marred the election for the post of chairman of 15 Velampalayam Grade III Municipality, on the outskirts of Tirupur, on Saturday.

In the keenly fought elections, in which the town unit secretary of the ruling DMK, S.P. Mani, and town unit secretary of the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam, R. Nagaraj, contested, voting went off peacefully.

Minutes after the results were declared, a group of councillors barged towards the returning officer, Sankaralingam, snatched some of the ballot papers and tore them up.

Subsequently, a page of the minutes book was also torn by them.

Mr. Nagaraj said that he won the election by securing 11 out of 21 votes and the returning officer had announced him elected.

After the proceedings were recorded in the minutes book, the DMK candidate Mr. Mani re-entered the hall twice with his supporters.

First he tore up the ballot papers and again they tampered with the minute book, he alleged.

However Mr. Mani denied the allegations.

In the 21-member-strong council, the AIADMK and MDMK won in four wards each, while the DMK won in 6, and the CPI(M) in 3. The CPI, the Congress, the BJP and the DMDK won one ward each.

The police sent the frightened women councillors safely to their homes when the atmosphere outside the municipal office was tense.

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