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DMK’s Kanimozhi faces her first Lok Sabha test in strategically chosen Thoothukudi
This is Kanimozhi’s first Lok Sabha election, she is currently a member of the Rajya Sabha.
Kanimozhi, DMK leader and candidate from Thoothukudi, took a swipe at the BJP-led central government after casting her vote in Chennai on Thursday, the day 95 seats went to polls in 12 states and one Union Territory.
“People in the opposition have been harassed, raids targeted at opposition candidates. BJP have completely taken over AIADMK,” Kanimozhi said, according to ANI. The voting in her constituency comes two days after her home and office was raided in Thoothukudi. This is Kanimozhi’s first Lok Sabha election, she is currently a member of the Rajya Sabha.
According to I-T department officials, the raids were conducted on the basis of a complaint by the returning officer and district magistrate Sandeep Nanduri.
The raids sparked angry responses from the DMK, which accused the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of using central agencies against opposition parties, even as party workers took to the streets of Thoothukudi and shouted slogans against Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
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“People who hoarded crores of rupees had not been raided; the EC never took any action on our complaints. We have to undertake reforms in the EC in the future,” said party president MK Stalin. Kanimozhi is the daughter of late party patriarch M Karunanidhi and Stalin’s half-sister. She is facing the state BJP chief Tamilisai Soundararajan in Thoothukudi.
In Tamil Nadu 39 seats are voting in phase 2, polling was cancelled in Vellore after huge cash was recovered in the constituency.
