CHENNAI: AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami on Saturday accused the DMK government of misusing the administrative machinery to interfere with the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls, and announced a large-scale protest in Chennai on Monday.
In a statement, EPS claimed that in Chennai Corporation limits, many booth level officers (BLOs) deployed for field work were not the officials listed on the Election Commission’s website. Instead, new persons were appointed on the grounds that the originally assigned BLOs did not report for duty. According to him, several of these replacements were individuals associated with DMK-backed volunteer programmes such as Ungaludan Stalin and Makkalai Thedi Maruthuvam.
He alleged that BLOs influenced by DMK functionaries were issuing forms only to voters supporting the ruling party while neglecting others. Calling such actions “anti-democratic,” EPS said the party would stage a massive protest at 10 am on November 17 near Rajarathinam Stadium here to condemn the incumbent state government.