CHENNAI: On the eve of polling, DMK president and Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday wrote a letter to party workers, calling for heightened booth-level vigilance and laying out a series of procedural instructions for polling agents.
Expressing confidence in coming back to power, Stalin said,”The people of Tamil Nadu have far greater expectations than I do, than you do, or than our alliance partners do.” Warning that voting for the AIADMK-led alliance was “a vote directly for BJP,”
Stalin wrote that the saffron party would “swallow Tamil Nadu through the back door, the way it did Bihar.” On booth management, he asked booth-level agents (BLA-2), booth-level committee (BLC) members, and booth digital agents (BDA) to cast their votes early and ensure that no supporter in their segment is left behind.
On Form 17C, Stalin issued a sharp caution that under no circumstances should polling agents sign the Form 17C given by the presiding officer at the beginning.” Sign and collect the copy only after verifying at the close of the poll, he said in the letter.
Stalin further directed agents to ensure that the EVM units are properly sealed and in place, that the machines display ‘zero’ after the mock poll, and that VVPAT slips are verified against EVM count.