Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam president M.K. Stalin on Friday said the byelection to Tirupparankundram constituency was necessitated because of the ‘cheating’ committed by AIADMK in obtaining the signature of late Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in the nomination papers of the party’s candidate.
Addressing election campaigns at different places in the constituency throughout Friday, he said while it was true that the demise of A.K. Bose, former MLA of the constituency, necessitated the election, it was equally true that his election itself was problematic and was hence set aside by the Madras High Court in a recent judgment.
He recollected the controversy surrounding the thumb impression of Jayalalithaa present in the nomination paper of A.K. Bose, when he successfully contested the previous byelection for the constituency in 2016. “As per procedure, the party chief’s signature is required in the nomination paper of the candidates. However, Jayalalithaa was hospitalised at the time,” he said.
“Her death still remains a mystery. We do not know if she was alive or if she was conscious when the byelection for Tirupparankundram took place. But we were shown her thumb impression on the nomination papers,” he added.
Court ruling
He pointed out that the High Court had recently ruled that the thumb impression was not obtained as per procedure and set aside Bose’s election. He appealed to the public to vote for the party’s candidate, P. Saravanan, who unsuccessfully contested the previous election against Bose. “It was Saravanan who fought against the last election in the court,” he said. Stating that the people had already voted against Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre in the recently concluded parliamentary elections, he sought the people to vote for DMK in the upcoming byelections for four Assembly constituencies.
“You have already voted to send back Modi. Now, vote to send home Edappadi [Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami],” he said. He said majority of the people wanted DMK to come to power in the State, at least to investigate the mystery surrounding Jayalalithaa’s death.