COIMBATORE: The Dravidar Panpattu Kootiyakkagam has alleged that Tamil Nadu Agricultural University has been collecting details of students and urged the district election officer-cum-collector to hold an investigation.
In a submission made at the collectorate on Thursday, coordinator C Venmani claimed Governor RN Ravi had issued oral instructions to educational institutions to collect students’ personal details. “After receiving oral instructions from Raj Bhavan to collect the details of students’ voter ID numbers, many universities including the TNAU tried to forcibly collect the details from students ahead of election,” he said, adding students who refused were threatened. “Students are afraid to object,” the outfit said and added that the collected data could have been sent to the BJP as the governor supports the RSS ideology.
Tamil Nadu Agricultural University (TNAU) Vice-Chancellor V Geethalakshmi denied this allegation. She told TNIE, “Six months ago, we collected students’ details for a scholarship programme named “Think Tank ‘’ through a Google sheet format. Now, someone has circulated this Google sheet by adding some information. We did not ask any voter card details from the students.”