CHENNAI: The war between the two factions of the AIADMK again came to light on Monday, with both sending representatives to an all-party meeting of the Election Commission (EC). At the meeting, both factions extended their support to linking Aadhaar numbers to electoral rolls. The ruling DMK, however, opposed it, saying fake Aadhaar cards should first be weeded out.
Based on a letter sent by the EC to the AIADMK office, former ministers and supporters of the party’s interim general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami D Jayakumar and Pollachi V Jayaraman attended the meeting. Likewise, former MLA Kovai Selvaraj attended on behalf of O Panneerselvam’s faction.
At the meeting hall, Selvaraj, who arrived first, occupied a seat behind the AIADMK name board. When Jayakumar and Jayaraman arrived and saw Selvaraj seated there, Jayakumar snatched the AIADMK name board and placed it before his and Jayaraman’s seats.
After the meeting, Jayakumar and Jayaraman told reporters they were the representatives of the Palaniswami-led AIADMK and didn’t know about the other faction. They added that they extended their support to the EC to link Aadhaar numbers to electoral rolls, and said if this is not possible, the commission should link at least one of the 11 documents recognised for voting, with electoral rolls.
Later, Selvaraj addressed reporters and said he was the sole representative of the AIADMK since he was sent by the EC-recognised party coordinator O Panneerselvam. To a question on the letter sent by the EC, he said the commission would only send a letter to parties, not individuals, and he attended the meeting based on a letter given by Panneerselvam as the AIADMK coordinator.
On behalf of the DMK, the party’s organising secretary RS Bharathi participated. He said there are numerous fake Aadhaar cards in India, and this has been recorded in Parliament too. If Aadhaar numbers are to be linked to electoral rolls, fake Aadhaar cards should be removed.
Alternatively, any of the 11 EC-recognised documents should be linked to the electoral list, Bharathi said. On behalf of the BJP, Karu Nagarajan attended the meeting, and extended support to link Aadhaar numbers to electoral rolls.
Team EPS snatches board bearing name of party
The member fielded by team OPS arrived first and sat behind the AIADMK board. When team EPS’ members arrived, they took the board & placed it in front of them