In Jayalalithaa’s RK Nagar, AIADMK fights itself as well as EC

In flying squads, local members replaced with officials from outside the state, Dinakaran camp alleges it is a conspiracy hatched by ‘Sangh Parivar’

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T T V Dinakaran campaigns in R K Nagar; O Panneerselvam too has a candidate. Arun Janardhanan

In RK Nagar, the seat late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa represented, her party is not only fighting the Opposition and itself in the upcoming bypoll but has also taken on the Election Commission.

The Election Commission revamped its flying squads last week, replacing local officials with village officers and sub-collectors from Kerala and Andhra Pradesh selected on the basis of whether they know Tamil. This has led to an outburst from T T V Dinakaran, candidate of the official AIADMK faction loyal to Sasikala; he has accused the Election Commission of being biased.

On Tuesday, a column in the party’s mouthpiece Namadhu MGR read: “Election officials in R K Nagar have been transferred. The city police commissioner has been transferred. Y category security has been given to OPS [O Panneerselvam]. EVM machines used in UP have been brought here. The only thing left is transfer of voters to the constituency. And bringing RSS and Sangh people here and get them to vote.” Even if all that happens, the columnist wrote, “justice will prevail and people of RK Nagar will vote for hat (Dinakaran’s symbol). We are nurtured by the great MGR and we will win despite conspiracies hatched by the Sangh Parivar.”

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Not long before the restrictions were imposed, a delegation of the party’s OPS faction had met the EC in Delhi last week. Three factions of the AIADMK are contesting the bypoll — the official faction represented by Dinakaran, the OPS faction with E Madhusudanan as candidate, and Jayalalithaa’s niece Deepa. The DMK has fielded N Marudhu Ganesh, a journalist-turned-politician and its area secretary in RK Nagar (East) while the BJP candidate is musician Ilayaraja’s brother Gangai Amaran, himself a musician.

The decision to order out all local officials was taken last Thursday. Central armed forces will guard all polling booths. Those transferred out of R K Nagar in the last couple of days include police officers from city commissioner S George to additional commissioners and inspectors, as well as city corporation assistant engineers and executive engineers.

A senior police intelligence officer alleged that almost all leading players were using their “resources” to win the election. He said the EC decisions were aimed at preventing strategies such as relaxation in police patrolling in the early hours, and delay in filing of FIRs.

AIADMK leader and former minister B Valarmathi said Dinakaran will easily win the election and build “57,000 house for the homeless in R K Nagar”.

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