DMK welcomes shifting of Returning Officer

Stalin also asked the EC to make all efforts to ensure that elections were conducted democratically in RK Nagar. Earlier in the day, DMK organising secretary RS Bharati petitioned the chief electoral officer Rajesh Lakhoni asking him to shift Velusamy for “functioning with discriminatory and biased attitude” and appoint a competent returning officer in IAS rank.

In his representation, Bharati contended that their candidate Marudhu Ganesh had given an application on November 29 to set up a central election office in the constituency, but the RO had kept the application “pending deliberately without any reason whatsoever for more than 10 days because of the pressure from the ruling AIADMK.” The RO had permitted them to set up the election office on December 8 only after the DMK announced an agitation, the party stated in its complaint.

“The manner in which the returning officer had handled the scrutiny of nominations, particularly while disposing the nomination of Vishal, is also a relevant factor to be considered for his shifting forthwith,” Bharati remarked.