CHENNAI: Election Commission has slapped a notice on MDMK general secretary Vaiko for his personal attacks against DMK president M Karunanidhi, made on April 6 and sought his reply by 3 p.m., today.
The notice dated April 18 was sent to him already. Citing this notice, the office of Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni has sent a communication to Vaiko reminding him about the need to reply to the notice by 3 p.m., today.
On April 6, while addressing a press conference, Vaiko made some remarks which indirectly hinted that Karunanidhi could engage in sex work instead of politics and drew sharp reactions from all around, even from among his PWA partners, CPM State secretary G Ramakrishnan, CPI State secretary R Mutharasan and VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan. Later, Vaiko tendered an unconditional apology to Karunanidhi.
The EC in its notice said prima facie there was violation of model code of conduct and Returning Officer concerned had already filed an FIR under Section 153A of IPC and Section 125 of the RP Act. “If no reply is received within the prescribed time, it will be presumed that you have nothing to say and the Commission will proceed to take appropriate action without making any further reference to you”, the notice said.