CHENNAI: VCK president Thol Thirumavalavan on Thursday alleged that the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls contributed to DMK president MK Stalin’s defeat in Kolathur and said he had warned the DMK president before the Assembly election about a possible conspiracy to defeat him. Stalin lost to TVK’s VS Babu by a margin of 8,795 votes.
“When I met Stalin, I told him, ‘Anna, there seems to be a problem in Kolathur. Why don’t you contest from another constituency?’ But Sekarbabu (former minister) told him that the SIR was being conducted properly and there would be no problem,” Thirumavalavan said, speaking at an INDIA bloc protest in Egmore demanding the removal of Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar.
Thirumavalavan said a person had contacted him repeatedly before the election, warning that efforts were under way to defeat Stalin in Kolathur. He said he had arranged for the person to speak to former minister PK Sekarbabu and subsequently raised the issue directly with Stalin.
“I am saying this now not to accuse anyone, but to sound a warning,” he said, adding that he had reiterated his concerns to both Stalin and Sekarbabu, but they had not accepted his apprehensions.
Referring to the electoral roll revision, Thirumavalavan claimed that around one lakh voters had been deleted in Kolathur, while the number of deceased voters in the constituency was around 20,000. He said nearly 97 lakh names had been deleted across Tamil Nadu, alleging that the exercise undermined democracy.
“Even when the results were announced, I said they had not lost on their own; they had been made to lose,” he said, alleging that opposition leaders, including Stalin, Mamata Banerjee, Arvind Kejriwal and Pinarayi Vijayan, had been targeted.
The ruling TVK, which has recently joined the INDIA bloc in Tamil Nadu, participated in the protest.
Information and School Education Minister A Rajmohan said TVK had opposed the SIR exercise even before coming to power, including when it was implemented in Bihar. He said the party had raised objections to the deletion of nearly 97 lakh voters in Tamil Nadu and was pursuing the issue in the Supreme Court.
“Every person’s right to vote is their right to life. It must be protected,” Rajmohan said, calling for opposition unity to safeguard voting rights. He alleged that first-time voters, marginalised communities and ordinary people had been disproportionately affected by the deletions.
MDMK general secretary Vaiko said 13.43 crore people had been removed from electoral rolls and demanded Gyanesh Kumar’s removal. He said protests would continue until the chief election commissioner was removed.
CPM state secretary P Shanmugam condemned the centre for using police and paramilitary forces to suppress protests in Delhi against the SIR exercise. He said the agitation would continue until Gyanesh Kumar is removed.
CPI state secretary M Veerapandian stressed the need to protect India’s pluralism, secularism and democracy. He said political democracy alone is insufficient without social and economic democracy, and that every citizen’s vote must carry equal weight.