Last week, Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) president M. K. Stalin had announced that tickets to contest in the urban local bodies election will not be given to those with a criminal background and also to those who figure in criminal offences case.
The statement came after a functionary, who was named as a contestant, was brutally murdered in Madipakkam, a neighbourhood in Chennai, by an armed gang.
The party organ - Murasoli – had published the statement of the president and the general secretary Durai Murugan had also appealed to the district secretaries to take stock of the lists again and eliminate those who had a criminal background.
However, the directive of the DMK president appears to have been neglected by the district secretaries as at least a dozen candidates in south Tamil Nadu have filed their nominations for councillor posts in the Corporation, Municipality and Town Panchayat respectively and they all have pending criminal cases in police stations.
Police sources said that a DMK member in Tirunelveli Shankar Nagar Town Panchayat ward was named as the party candidate. However, he was removed as there were a bunch of charges - land grab and murder included - and he was even declared as a habitual offender by the police. After the DMK party organ Murasoli’s announcement, the Tirunelveli district secretary replaced the candidate immediately. However, within 24 hours, the person with criminal background submitted his nomination for a different ward and filed his papers.
Another candidate, former MLA, had filed for Tirunelveli corporation ward. He was a staunch supporter of expelled party man M. K. Alagiri. Not in a mood to comment, DMK managers in Tirunelveli remained mum. Meanwhile, reliable sources said the candidate had left for Chennai.
In Madurai city, a DMK functionary and a former councillor in the Corporation who had been instructed by the police not to enter the district, has successfully managed to get a ticket for his daughter to contest from a ward. Similarly, another DMK candidate, who is an advocate, has a murder case against him, police sources said.
Officials threatened
On Saturday, when scrutiny was under way, an officer had rejected three nominations of the DMK candidates in Kadambur Town Panchayat wards in Thoothukudi district. As the news spread, a section of supporters of Minister Geetha Jeevan reportedly compelled the officer to reconsider his decision, but he was firm on the decision and explained the ground for rejection, a senior official in Thoothukudi said.
In Dindigul district, when an independent candidate objected to the nomination of a DMK candidate in the Corporation ward, there was chaos. While the Independent candidate claimed that the DMK man had hidden the FIRs in his name as he had smuggled PDS rice. However, the DMK candidate maintained that it was baseless and that the Independent candidate had demanded money.
The BJP state general secretary R. Srinivasan said that there may be cases against people in public life, especially, against the political party functionaries. “If they were for public cause, it has no serious consequences, but if there were grave charges like murder or attempt to murder, smuggling of essential commodities charges, et al, the party should refrain from giving tickets to such people,” he said.
The AIADMK MLA and former Minister R. B. Udaykumar said that in the AIADMK, they have given tickets to aspirants based on the good conduct with the people in the respective wards and their service in public life.
