NDA demands Governor's intervention

By Our Special Correspondent

CHENNAI, OCT. 17. The opposition fronts, the DMK-led NDA and the Congress alliance, today complained to the Governor, Dr. C. Rangarajan, today that the ruling partymen ``with the connivance'' of the Chennai police had indulged in large-scale malpractices in yesterday's civic polls in the City.

While the DMK-led front urged the Governor to direct the State Election Commission to hold repolling in 353 booths in the city where alleged malpractices took place, the Congress demanded fresh election for all wards in the Corporation.

``The booth capturing and bogus voting have been done only with the connivance of the Ministers and the Commissioner of Police, Chennai,'' NDA leaders charged, in a memorandum to the Governor.

``When Ministers and law enforcing agencies become a privy to the electoral offence it results in the breakdown of Constitutional machinery in the State,'' the memorandum presented by the DMK general secretary, Mr. K. Anbazhagan, the State BJP general secretary, Mr. L. Ganesan, and the PMK general secretary, Mr. A. K. Moorthy, said.

Miscreants came in several vans, autorickshaws and threatened polling agents, chased away polling officers and the waiting voters and stuffed the boxes with ballot papers, the NDA leaders charged. The offender should be brought to justice, they insisted.

In a separate but similar petition to the Governor, the Congress- led front leaders including the TNCC president, Mr. E. V. K. S. Elangovan, said, ``never in the annals of Indian electoral history such high-handed acts'' had been perpetrated with impunity by the ruling party.

The AIADMK partymen and their alliance parties stifled and subverted the democratic process to subserve their own party's interests to snatch a verdict in their favour, they alleged.

Hence, the elections to the Chennai Corporation yesterday should be declared null and void and fresh elections ordered, the memorandum said.

Besides Mr.Elangovan, the Makkal Tamil Desam president, Mr. S. Kannappan, the New Justice Party leader, Mr. A. C. Shanmugham, and the Congress Jananayaga Peravai MLA, Mr. B. Ranganathan, were part of the delegation which called on the Governor this evening.

Earlier, Mr.Elangovan demanded that the City Police Commissioner, Mr. K. Muthukaruppan, who was acting as an ``AIADMK district secretary'' be removed. With police escort, the AIADMK men had gone on a ``voting spree'' in several booths in the city.

Showing some of the ballot papers picked up from booths in the city, he charged that the ruling partymen had rigged the booths and assaulted opposition candidates including Congress contestants.

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Section  : Southern States
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