DMK will stage 'drama' as its dream of coming to power with 'bogus' votes shattered: Palaniswami

Chennai: The ruling DMK is likely to enact a "drama" in frustration as its dream of coming to power with "bogus" votes has been shattered by the EC, which has removed about 97 lakh voters during the SIR exercise, Leader of Opposition Edappadi K Palaniswami has claimed.

Chief Minister M K Stalin and the DMK led by him will attempt to unravel various myths and portray their votes as being lost, he alleged.

"No one should fall for their trap. A situation where even a single genuine vote will be lost will not arise as long as the AIADMK exists," Palaniswami said in a social media post on Friday.

On December 19, the Election Commission announced that nearly 97 lakh voters who had either migrated, died or made duplicate entries were removed during the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls in Tamil Nadu. This brings down the electorate strength in the state to 5.43 crore from 6.41 crore.

Amidst reports that most of these deleted names were bogus, Palaniswami said AIADMK’s insistence for SIR from the beginning has been vindicated.

"The DMK is preparing to stage dramas lamenting in anger and anxiety that its dream of coming to power by bending democratic values with fake votes has been shattered," the former chief minister said in the post.

The AIADMK general secretary appealed to the people to fill Form 6 and submit it to the EC if their names were found missing in the draft voters list, along with identity proof specified by the Commission.

"Then your name will definitely be included," he said and called upon the party's booth level agents to help the people.

"The puppet chief minister and the DMK led by him will try to unravel various myths and portray their votes as being lost. No one should fall for their trap. A situation where even a single real vote will be lost will not arise as long as the AIADMK exists,” he said.

Thanking all those who supported the SIR, Palaniswami asked his party members to compare the draft voter list with the old voter list, booth wise, and ensure that the voters in the draft list have been removed for the right reason of demise, transfer or double entry.

It will be the primary duty of the party to ensure voters, who were removed without a valid reason had their names included in the final list. Similarly, if the bogus votes were not removed, then the party should complain to the election commission officials and make sure that they were removed.

"I instruct the district secretaries to carry out these works on a war footing. I urge officials appointed for SIR work to coordinate with our functionaries," he said.