Posts Tagged by-elections
Delegation of MPs from DMK, Congress and other allies in met CEC
Posted by ganesh in Communication, Departments, Dharmapuri, Other, Politics, competition, election, government, programme on February 11th, 2010
A delegation of MPs from DMK, Congress and other allies in Tamil Nadu today met Chief Election Commissioner Navin Chawla and demanded that the by-elections to Pennagaram constituency be held before the end of March.
The delegation led by DMK MP T R Baalu met Chawla and expressed surprise over the poll body not announcing the dates for by-elections to the constituency.
The meeting assumes significance in the wake of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi saying that the EC?s attitude makes one to think whether it is biased towards AIADMK.
In a memorandum submitted to the EC, the MPs wondered why the Election Commission decided to postpone the by-polls, which were originally scheduled for January, only after AIADMK demanded that it be deferred till Pongal festivities are over.
PMK S Ramadoss flayed the Election Commission by-elections to Pennagaram in demanded postponement
Posted by ganesh in Departments, Others, competition, election on December 24th, 2009
Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) founder leader S Ramadoss today flayed the Election Commission for unilaterally announcing the by-elections to Pennagaram in Tamil Nadu and demanded postponement of the same.
In a statement here, he said the Election Commission had announced bypoll within 21 days after the death of DMK MLA, who represented Pennagaram.
Before announcing the elections, the Commission would take into considertion the local and national festivals, but this time announced the election for January 20, when the state would be celebrating the Pongal festival.
‘The Commission also failed to take note of the Assembly session from January six, which is likely to last for a week,’ he said.
Wondering whether the Commission had sought the views of the state government before announcing the schedule, he said if the Commission had not sought the views, the government should tell the Election Commission that it was not advisable to hold the bypoll in January, when people celebrate the Pongal festival, forgetting their political differences.
Chief Minister M Karunanidhi should prevail upon the Commission to hold the bypoll in Febraury, Dr Ramadoss suggested. Other political parties should also place the demand with the Commission.
Polling in the by- elections to Vandavasi and Tiruchendur
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Departments, Politics, Trichendhur, competition, election, government on December 19th, 2009
Polling in the by- elections to Vandavasi and Tiruchendur Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu began at 0800 hrs this morning.
The fate of 39 candidates in the fray for both the seats would be sealed today. The by-election was necessitated following the death of ruling DMK MLA S P Jayaraman in Vandavasi and due to the resignation of AIADMK Tiruchendur Legislator Anitha Radhakrishnan, who had quit the party and joined the DMK.
The DMK had nominated Anitha Radhakrishnan for the Tiruchendur seat, which has 25 candidates in fray. There are 14 candidates in the fray in Vandavasi (Reserved) constituency.
Both the seat are witnessing a triangular contest, with the main Opposition AIADMK and actor Vijayakanth’s DMDK in the fray.
AIADMK Parliamentary party today urged the Election Commission to evict all the outsiders
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Other, Politics, Trichendhur, competition, election, government, tamilnadu on December 18th, 2009
Alleging that the ruling DMK was planning to cast bogus votes in the December 19 by-elections to Vandavasi and Thiruchendur Assembly seats in Tamil Nadu, AIADMK Parliamentary party today urged the Election Commission to evict all the outsiders, who were not voters of the two constituencies.
According to a press release here, AIADMK Parliamentary leader V Maitreyan met the Election Commissioner in New Delhi and presented a memorandum, urging him to deploy additional para-military forces to ensure free and fair election.
He also urged the Commission to direct the police personnel to restrain the DMK party men from entering both the constituencies and direct all DMK Ministers, MPs, MLAs and all other DMK party functionaries to leave both the constituencies.
He alleged that DMK Ministers had instructed their party cadres and their functionaries to be stationed in rented houses, marriage halls and commercial complexes to cast bogus votes.
Campaigning for by-elections for two assembly seats in Tamil Nadu ended
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Other, Politics, Trichendhur, competition, election, tamilnadu on December 18th, 2009
Campaigning for by-elections for two assembly seats in Tamil Nadu ended Thursday, an official said. The polls are scheduled to be held Saturday.
Political parties and candidates wound up their campaign in Vandavasi and Tiruchendur assembly constituencies at 5 p.m.
The by-elections will see three-cornered contests with the DMK, the AIADMK and the DMDK fighting for the spoils.
A total of 39 contestants are in the fray — 14 in Vandavasi and 25 in Tiruchendur.
For the first time in the country’s polling history, the Election Commission has decided to match the images of voters captured by the web camera installed in the polling booths with those stored in its central servers to eliminate bogus voting.
As during the August by-elections for five constituencies, the commission will record the polling process live through the web cameras and monitor it from control room here.
While Deputy Chief Minister M.K. Stalin was the star campaigner for the DMK, Leader of the Opposition and AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalithaa and actor-politician Vijayakant were the star attractions for their respective parties.
The two Left parties – the Communist Party of India-Marxist and the Communist Party of India which contested in the August by-polls – have this time announced their support to AIADMK candidates while PMK asked its cadres not to vote.
Though charges of bribing the voters with cash, liquor, dhotis, saris and even mobile phone recharge coupons flew thick and fast, Chief Electoral Officer Naresh Gupta said it is difficult to pursue the allegations.
Gupta said 11 companies of paramilitary forces – five from the Central Reserve Police Force and six from the Karnataka State Reserve Police – will be deployed for poll security duty.
State, images of all voters, captured on web cameras at the time of polling,
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Other, Politics, Trichendhur, election, government, programme on December 17th, 2009
For the first time in the State, images of all voters, captured on web cameras at the time of polling, will be compared with their images available in the central server’s database of electoral photo rolls.
This will be done in the Tiruchendur and Vandavasi Assembly constituencies, where by-elections will be held on Saturday.
The comparison will be carried out by the control room set-up at the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Naresh Gupta, CEO, said, adding that any discrepancies found would be immediately acted upon.
The entire poll proceedings at polling stations of the two constituencies would be recorded live.
Tiruchendur and Vandavasi accounted for 196 stations and 217 stations respectively.
After conducting a video-conferencing session with the District Election Officers of Tiruvannamalai and Tuticorin districts, Mr. Gupta told reporters that polling officials concerned should ensure entries in registers regarding the production of documents for identification.
Apart from the Electors’ Photo Identity Cards, 13 documents such as passports, driving licences, Permanent Account Number cards, issued by the Income Tax department, and Health Insurance Scheme Smart Cards, issued by the Union Labour Ministry up to October 31, 2009, would be allowed.
Asked why family cards issued by the State Food and Civil Supplies department were not accepted for identification, Mr. Gupta replied that the Minister concerned went on record in the Assembly that there were surplus cards in circulation.
The State had a high degree of coverage of EPIC, he said, wondering why there should be insistence on family cards.
In August when the by-elections were held in five constituencies, there were no problems on this count.
Regarding the complaints of distribution of money to voters, Mr. Gupta acknowledged that it was difficult to pursue such cases.
He had been getting a number of complaints such as distribution of dhotis or saris, exchange of tokens for liquor and recharging of mobile phone connections.
As for the distribution of money or materials, those who were indulging in such activities disappeared from the scene as soon as government officials went to the spot.
Security arrangements
Totally, 11 companies, five from the Central Reserve Police Force and six from the Karnataka State Reserve Police, had been ordered for deployment.
Already, six and a half companies had arrived in Tiruchendur and four companies in Vandavasi,
The Left parties have decided to support the AIADMK in the by-elections
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Politics, Public, Trichendhur on November 27th, 2009
CPI leaders R. Nallakannu, C. Mahendran and D. Pandian, briefing the press after meeting AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa in Chennai
The Left parties have decided to support the AIADMK in the by-elections to Tiruchendur and Vandavasi Assembly constituencies.
AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa invited the State leadership of the Communist Party of India for a meeting on Thursday. Emerging from the meeting, CPI State secretary D. Pandian said the CPI would support the AIADMK candidates since the DMK-Congress combine was responsible for a series of measures that affected farmers and fishermen adversely.
He referred to the sugarcane farmers’ protests in New Delhi and the Marine Fisheries (Regulation and Management) Bill that hampers fishermen as instances of the DMK-Congress combine catering to vested interests. He clarified that there was no alliance in place; this was only an electoral understanding with the AIADMK.
Separately, Communist Party of India (Marxist) State secretary N. Varadarajan said his party would support the AIADMK candidates. But its leaders would not share a platform with Ms. Jayalalithaa during the campaign. “We’ll campaign independently,” he told The Hindu.
Asked about Mr. Pandian’s meeting with Ms. Jayalalithaa, he said the CPI(M) had no plans to meet her. “It is not on our agenda,” he said. His party had taken a few political decisions at the State Committee meeting in Madurai and would hold discussions with Mr. Pandian and other CPI leaders on Friday to get their opinion.
PMK’s stand
Meanwhile, the PMK, which was part of the AIADMK alliance in the 2009 Lok Sabha polls, indicated that it had an open mind about offering its support. The party, which won the Vandavasi seat in 2001 and secured a considerable number of votes in the 1991 and 1996 Assembly elections when it contested alone, has announced that it would not contest the by-polls.
Three persons filed nominations for the Tiruchendur seat and one for Vandavasi on Thursday.
Left parties (Marxist) and the CPI have not to contest by-polls
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Politics, government on November 26th, 2009
The State units of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the CPI have decided not to field candidates in the by-elections in the Tiruchendur and Vandavasi Assembly constituencies, to be held next month.
A final verdict on whom to support will be made jointly by the leaders of the two parties on Thursday or Friday, the CPI(M) State Committee that met in Madurai on Wednesday decided.
Informed sources in the two parties said they would call upon the voters of the two constituencies to vote against the DMK-Congress combine, which has been pursuing anti-people policies.
But they are yet to decide whether to openly support AIADMK candidates, as the two parties had already announced that their seat-sharing arrangement was only for the Lok Sabha polls.
Left leaders confirmed that AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa had approached them seeking support for her candidates. “But Ms Jayalalithaa has not directly spoken to either CPI(M) State secretary N. Varadarajan or CPI Secretary D. Pandian. Only her representatives opened channels with us.”
The Left leaders ruled out the possibility of supporting candidates of the Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam (DMDK), led by actor Vijayakant. “The question does not arise as Mr. Vijayakant himself had declared that he was not seeking the support of other political parties,” said a senior CPI(M) leader.
On the first day of submission of nomination papers on Wednesday, two candidates – one each for Vandavasi and Tiruchendur – filed papers. A release issued by Chief Electoral Officer Naresh Gupta said the list of leaders for whom political parties desiring to get exemption from the provision of treating their expenditure on account of travel by air or any other means as that of their parties’ candidates or their agents should be sent to the Election Commission or the CEO on or before December 2.
DMK party announced Vandavasi and Tiruchendur constituencies by-polls
Posted by ganesh in Chennai, Politics, government, meeting on November 24th, 2009
Tamil Nadu’s ruling DMK party Tuesday announced Kamalakannan and Anita Radhakrishnan as its candidates for Vandavasi and Tiruchendur constituencies, where by-polls are scheduled Dec 19.
The by-elections were necessitated following the death of Vandavasi’s sitting legislator Jayaraman (DMK) early this month and the resignation of Tiruchendur’s Anita Radhakrishnan, who switched sides from the AIADMK to the DMK.
The AIADMK had Monday announced its candidates. The two communist parties – Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) and the Communist Party of India (CPI) – have decided to extend support to AIADMK this time. Both had contested the August by-polls that were boycotted by AIADMK.
At that time, the communist parties said their alliance forged with AIADMK during the Lok Sabha elections was only an electoral alliance.
Meanwhile, the DMDK led by Vijayakant is yet to announce its candidates for the two constituencies while PMK leader S. Ramadoss wants an undertaking from Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi that the polls will be held in a fair manner for his party to contest.
Not part of the DMK or AIADMK alliance, the PMK will find it an uphill task to take on the two parties as well as DMDK on its own.
Recent Comments