Advocate S. Doraisamy of the Thanthai Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam has written to Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo, questioning the timing of the change in name of Chennai Central railway station to Puratchi Thalaivar Dr. M.G. Ramachandran Central railway station.
In his representation, the lawyer said a government gazette notification changing the name of the railway terminus, built during the British era, ought not to have been issued when the model code of conduct was in force.
‘To garner votes’
Wondering how a railway station could be named after the former Chief Minister at a time when even his statues across the State had been draped to ensure a level-playing field in the elections, he sought a direction to the State government to rescind the gazette notification forthwith. He also alleged that the notification had been issued with the sole aim of garnering votes of the former political leader’s followers and admirers in favour of the BJP-AIADMK alliance on April 18, the day of polling for 39 Parliamentary constituencies, apart from by-elections to 18 Assembly constituencies in the State.
Mr. Doraisamy claimed that though the Union Ministry of Home Affairs had issued a no-objection certificate for renaming the railway station on March 9, the State government’s gazette notification was released only on Friday, without obtaining prior permission from the Election Commission.
It was on March 6 that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, while kicking off the National Democratic Alliance’s (NDA) election campaign for the Lok Sabha polls from Kelambakkam near Chennai, announced that the 146-year-old railway station would be renamed after MGR.
The Election Commission, on March 10, announced the dates for the Parliamentary elections across the nation and the MCC came into force immediately after the announcement.