Sporadic incidents of violence and reports of voters being bribed have triggered tension in Madurai even as the district administration gears up for the June 26 byelection to the Madurai West constituency. The bypoll is being seen as a prestige battle between the ruling DMK and Opposition AIADMK.Concerns expressed by Chief Electoral Officer Naresh Gupta over allegations of bribes being offered to voters have triggered speculation that the byelection could be postponed. Gupta has called a press meet tomorrow to give a brief on the situation.Former Mayor of the town P Kulandaivelu of the DMK today claimed miscreants had set fire to his car parked at his house. Cases were registered against some AIADMK functionaries.Madurai Inspector General of Police, Sanjeev Kumar, said investigations were on into the incident. He said while there were complaints of political parties ‘bribing’ voters, no one had been “caught in action” yet.With reports of M K Azhagiri’s influence reaching every nook of Madurai administration, the Election Commission is all the more determined to ensure there are no allegations of foul play on election day. Azhagiri, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi’s elder son, has been in the eye of a storm kicked up by the May 9 violence in Madurai.To ensure free and fair poll, the Election Commission last week ordered transfer of Madurai District Collector S S Jawahar and five other senior civil and police officials. Madurai Police Commissioner A Subramanian, Revenue Divisional Officer and Returning Officer of the constituency A Narayanamoorthy, Deputy Commissioner of Police R Ramarajan, Assistant Commissioner of Police S D Rajendran and Tallakulam Inspector M Rajendran were all ordered to be transferred.Sundaramoorthy has taken charge as the district’s new collector whereas Sanjeev Kumar has doubled up as Commissioner. In a communication to the Chief Secretary, the EC said it received complaints of “blatant violation” of its instructions.
