A 74-year-old elderly woman, who arrived at the Kaniyanur Government High School polling station in Ranipet on Friday, was in a dilemma—whom to vote for — as she received money from one party when her heart was with another candidate. Finally, after many hours of confusion and last-minute panic, her guilty conscience won—she voted for the party that bribed her. However, despite all this, she expressed hope that dharma would win. Granny, gods are not on the candidate list!
DJ ‘party’!
AIADMK cadre, who were expecting revolutionary songs of MG Ramachandran and J Jayalalithaa, were in confusion, when Vijayakant’s hit movie songs welcomed them at the campaign of the party’s Theni LS candidate VT Narayanasamy, last week. Surprised over this, party members asked Narayanasamy about the song selection, to which he replied, “Vijayakant is my relative and I am a fan of his.” Luckily, AIADMK and DMDK formed an alliance this time. Their songs can be mixed now!
Boss money
Every time the Joint Director (JD)-level officer of the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine visits his native, Tenkasi, the district officials of the department will get panic attacks. He asks them to bear all the expenses for his ‘jolly trip’. During his recent visit, he forcefully took the vehicles of some officials for his relatives to enjoy the tourist spots in Tenkasi, Tirunelveli and Virudhunagar districts as part of his wife’s birthday celebration. However, one of the cars got into an accident, which was a blow to the staff who were already bearing the cost of the whole visit. Talk of the town is that now the officials are setting aside a portion of their salary exclusively for the luxury of their superior.
Viral poll
Displaying a blatant disregard for electoral laws and a concerning gap in the enforcement of regulations within polling booths, videos of people casting their votes with peppy music in the background were doing the rounds on social media after the recent LS polls. Most of the illegal videos were showcasing ballots and VVPAT logos while the person voted for the PMK and this was circulated widely through the pages supporting the party. This act calls for strict measures to prevent electoral misconduct and ensure the sanctity of the democratic process, said a senior functionary of a political party.
(Contributed by Jeyalakshmi Ramanujam, SA Praveena, Thinakaran Rajamani, Krithika Srinivasan; compiled by Sneha Joseph)