Vijay’s Gets Nod For Perambur Meeting

Chennai: The Tamilaga Vetri Kazhagam (TVK) has been allowed to hold a campaign rally on Monday at the Mullainagar junction in Perambur where the authorities had earlier denied permission for a meeting on Saturday, prompting the party president Vijay to visit the Secretariat on Saturday and lodge a formal complaint through the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO), Archana Patnaik, to the Election Commission of India.

The complaint, in which Vijay has mentioned his name as ‘Joseph Vijay,’ demanded the immediate transfer or reassignment of select police and senior administrative officers of the State to ensure free, fair and level playing field in the general elections to the State Assembly, was personally handed over to the CEO.

The officers, against whom he sought a review were the Director General of Police, Tamil Nadu, Commissioner of Police, Greater Chennai, ADGP Law & Order, IG / ADGP Intelligence, DG / ADGP Armed Police and the head of the Chennai City Corporation.

Alleging serious, credible and widespread apprehension of administrative machinery being used selectively, denial of equal campaign opportunities for opposition parties, law & order mechanisms being not applied uniformly and field officers functioning under pressure, Vijay said certain officers were allegedly engaging in clandestine coordination to favour ruling party functionaries and facilitating distribution of benefits during the model code of conduct period.

Subsequently, permission was given for the rally that Vijay proposed to address after filing his nomination from the Perambur Assembly constituency and then visiting a few more constituencies in Chennai to address his followers.

Ahead of that, on Sunday, the TVK has organized a meeting at the posh Taj Coromandel hotel in Chennai to introduce the 234 candidates of his party. During the day, rumours were floating around that permission for that meeting at Taj Coromandel was also denied. However it was clarified that there was no restriction on the holding of the meeting.

Reacting to the refusal of permission for the Perumbur meeting on Friday, Vijay had described it as a ‘fascist attack on democracy’ and a testimony of the DMK’s fear over his party's popularity. In his letter to the ECI on Saturday, he wanted to call for an urgent report from the CEO, appoint special and police observers, ensure transparent and uniform permission systems and prevent misuse of enforcement machinery, among other things.