CHENNAI: Opposition parties — DMK, Congress and PMK — on Friday raised doubts over the timing of the announcement of bypolls to RK Nagar assembly constituency, saying the Election Commission was ‘losing hope’ among people since the notification coincided with allotment of Two Leaves symbol to the ruling faction of the AIADMK.
While DMK and Congress said they were ‘really surprised’ on the timing of the announcement of polls and wanted to know whether the Election Commission deliberately made the announcement after delivering its verdict on the symbol case, PMK castigated the poll body for playing into the hands of the Union Government.
“It is really surprising that the polls to RK Nagar was announced a day after the verdict on the Two symbol case. This gives room to lot of speculation and raises several doubts on the timing of the announcement,” DMK Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi said. TNCC chief Su Thirunavukarasar alleged that the BJP was clearly behind the Election Commission order recognising EPS-OPS faction as the AIADMK and allotting Two Leaves symbol to them. “Why did the EC wait for a long time to announce the RK Nagar bypoll? It is now clear that the EC wanted to first give the order in Two Leaves and announce the polls to help the AIADMK,” he said.
Thirunavukarasar, who was a minister in the MGR cabinet of the AIADMK, said getting Two Leaves does not guarantee the victory of the party. “The party (AIADMK) had lost the 2004 Lok Sabha elections despite contesting in Two Leaves symbol. And moreover, Jayalalithaa herself lost from Bargur though she contested in Two Leaves in 1996. Just by getting the symbol, the EPS-OPS faction cannot day dream of winning elections,” he said.
In a statement, PMK founder S Ramadoss accused the EC of rushing the hearing in the Two Leaves case to allot the symbol for the Chief Minister’s faction in the ensuing by-poll. “Within 24 hours of the verdict, the election dates are also announced. I think the state government was informed of the decision and that is why it was in a tearing hurry to launch several schemes,” Ramadoss said.
