The INDIA bloc’s allies in Tamil Nadu, known as the Secular Progressive Alliance led by the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) on Monday released a joint statement wherein they accused the BJP-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government at the Centre of continual threats to democratic principles, in response to the Election Commission of India (ECI)’s announcement on the conduct of Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls earlier in the day.
In the statement, the SPA stressed the need for an approach to the SIR that emphasised the time needed to conduct such a complex exercise, instead of what they termed a “hasty approach”.
The state government has called for an all-party meeting on the matter on November 2. The opposition AIADMK, which is part of the NDA and welcomed the SIR, is unlikely to attend the meeting, as is the case with the Bharatiya Janata Party. Only minutes after the ECI presser, AIADMK general secretary D Jayakumar told reporters, “AIADMK wholeheartedly welcomes the SIR drive initiated by the ECI,” he said. “We appeal for the process to be carried out with complete transparency. The ECI should ensure that state officers act impartially. AIADMK is committed to correcting all irregularities in the existing electoral rolls and giving only genuine voters the right to elect their representatives,” he added.
The statement by the SPA, on the other hand, reiterated chief minister MK Stalin’s earlier claims of disenfranchisement and selective deletion in the Bihar SIR, which was concluded recently, in time for the conduct of assembly elections in the state. “In particular, the functioning of the Election Commission has not only become controversial but also suspicious. The sole responsibility of the Election Commission is to conduct free, fair, transparent, and honest elections,” the statement said. “However, in recent times, the Commission has been conducting questionable elections through arbitrary orders favouring certain interests. The Bihar election stands as a clear example of this.”
{{/usCountry}}The statement by the SPA, on the other hand, reiterated chief minister MK Stalin’s earlier claims of disenfranchisement and selective deletion in the Bihar SIR, which was concluded recently, in time for the conduct of assembly elections in the state. “In particular, the functioning of the Election Commission has not only become controversial but also suspicious. The sole responsibility of the Election Commission is to conduct free, fair, transparent, and honest elections,” the statement said. “However, in recent times, the Commission has been conducting questionable elections through arbitrary orders favouring certain interests. The Bihar election stands as a clear example of this.”
{{/usCountry}}In a social media post on Monday, Stalin said, “we will resist disenfranchisement and defeat vote theft.”