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TNCC functionary moves court for videographing poll process

By Our Staff Reporter

CHENNAI FEB. 19 . The legal wing president of the Tamil Nadu Congress Committee, A.P. Suryaprakasam, has moved the Madras High Court for a direction to the Election Commission to videograph the entire polling process in Sattankulam, and also to deploy Central paramilitary forces for security in the constituency.

The TNCC functionary contended that the EC failed to take any effective action on a representation submitted by senior Congress leaders alleging poll irregularities. However, the First Bench comprising the Chief Justice B. Subhashan Reddy and Justice K. Ravirajpandian posted the matter to Thursday as a copy of the representation was not available.

In his petition, Mr. Suryaprakasam alleged that the field-level subordinate officers were being intimidated by the presence of almost the entire Council of Ministers in the constituency. Stating that there was utter lack of `neutral policing' in Sattankulam, the petitioner said ``the Congress candidate had been put to great hardship because of gross misuse of official power by Ministers''.

He said the complaints by senior Congress functionaries had fallen on deaf ears, and added that videographing of the election process, including polling and counting of votes, alone would prevent anti-social elements from `hijacking the election process'.

In their memorandum to the EC, the former Union Ministers, Dhanushkodi Adithan and S.R. Balasubramaniam, and Sudarsana Nachiappan, MP, have demanded videographing in all polling stations to prevent irregularities.

"But even after a lapse of 10 days, the respondents had not taken any steps to dispose of the genuine grievance of the Congress party," Mr. Suryaprakasam said.

He prayed for a direction to the EC to ensure that the official machinery was not misused by people in power, and to discharge their statutory powers without fear or favour.

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