Call Army to protect police, says EPS

Leader of Opposition and AIADMK joint coordinator Edappadi K Palaniswami on Sunday slammed the State Election Commission for not holding the urban local body polls in a democratic manner.

“Democracy was murdered in the urban local body polls as DMK was involved in widespread bogus voting in several booths in Chennai Corporation out of fear of losing. Both Chennai and Coimbatore witnessed poor voting percentage as people did not come out to exercise their franchise, scared over the poor law and order situation,” he said, while addressing reporters in Omalur in Salem district after chairing a meeting with party functionaries.

Alleging that police remained mute spectators as goons had a free run in Chennai and Coimbatore, the AIADMK leader said cash was distributed to voters right in front of police.

Further, Palaniswami said the DMK workers even threatened police preventing them from casting bogus votes. “Violence broke out in many parts of Coimbatore and Chennai. The SEC has become a puppet of the state government,” he alleged and showed a video of the ruling party men arguing with police.  

The AIADMK leader said as there was inaction to its MLAs pleas, the AIADMK approached the Madras High Court resulting in appointment of a special monitoring officer to Coimbatore.

Urging the SEC to ensure counting of votes to be held in a democratic manner, Palaniswami sought the police to provide enhanced security at the counting centres.

“The situation has become so worse that the army should be called in to give protection to the police,” he said.