‘EC’s decision to hold election in single day shows good law and order’

MADURAI

The Election Commission of India's decision to hold the election in Tamil Nadu in a single day was a reflection of good law and order situation, said Revenue Minister R B Udayakumar here on Saturday.

Starting off his poll campaign at Maravankulam here, the Minister, along with his supporters, visited the dwellings seeking votes for Two Leaves symbol.

When the ECI had announced the conduct of election in eight phases in West Bengal, single day polling in TN showed that all is well here. "If the DMK comes back to power, the law and order will not be the same. The common man and small vendors will be under constant threat from anti-socials," he claimed.

He went on asking the people, if they ever encountered any problem from any AIADMK functionary or were there any intervention by any party men in police stations on any complaints or disputes, which used to be the order when the DMK had ruled the State.

At a time, when the opposition parties were raising an alarm over the price hike of LPG refills, Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami has given an assurance to provide six free refills to the BPL families in a year, he said.

The AIADMK government, he said, had fulfilled all its promises made in 2016. During the covid-19 pandemic, the CM himself visited every district and conducted review meetings with the officials, which not only prevented the virus from rapid spread but also many casualties were avoided. Such was the pro-active approach of the government.

Risking their lives, all the AIADMK's elected representatives also reached the needy. In Madurai, the Minister said that he himself took the initiative of providing food to the Covid-19 patients in the hospitals and Covid care centres for nearly 150 days through the Amma Charitable Trust.

When such was the reality, the DMK and other opponents remained indoors all through the pandemic criticising the government. When the Centre and many other State agencies hailed Tamil Nadu government for its commendable role in containing the Covid-19 pandemic, the DMK leaders, unable to stomach the popularity, issued misleading statements, Mr Udayakumar charged.

During his campaign, the Revenue Minister promised to examine the modalities to give free house site pattas to the homeless in his constituency as his own contribution.

Quoting the late AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa's slogan "peace, growth and development," he said Tamil Nadu electorate would again re-elect the AIADMK and promised that, under the leadership of Mr Palaniswami, the people would be well protected.