DMK Youth Secretary and candidate from Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni constituency Udhayanidhi Stalin, BJP’s women’s wing president and candidate from Coimbatore South Vanathi Srinivasan and Shruti Haasan, daughter of MNM chief and Coimbatore South candidate Kamal Haasan have been accused of violating the model code of conduct on Tuesday. Polling took place across Tamil Nadu’s 234 constituencies on Tuesday.
The AIADMK on Tuesday filed a complaint with the Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Satyabrata Sahoo against DMK’s Udhayanidhi Stalin for wearing a shirt that had an impression of his party symbol - the rising sun - to the polling booth. Udhayanidhi had voted at the SIET Women’s College polling station in Chennai on Tuesday, along with his father and DMK President MK Stalin, mother Durga Stalin and wife Kiruthiga.
In a letter to the CEO, RM Babu Murugavel, the AIADMK’s spokesperson and joint secretary of the advocates’ wing, stated that Udhayanidhi Stalin had violated the model code of conduct, according to which all the political parties and candidates should not indulge in any sort of canvassing for 48 hours before the polling.
In the petition, he stated, “On the day of polling, DMK candidate for Chepauk-Triplicane (now known as Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni) constituency Mr Udhayanidhi Stalin who went to cast his vote at the polling booth no. 19 in SIET Women’s College in Mylapore, wore a shirt which had the impression of DMK’s flag and symbol. This was an outright violation of the model code of conduct”. He also added that this act of the DMK leader was a punishable offence. He requested the CEO to take immediate action against Udhayanidhi and sought his disqualification.
According to reports, Congress candidate for Coimbatore South constituency, Mayura Jayakumar lodged a complaint against his rival from the BJP Vanathi Srinivasan for pinning her party symbol (lotus) to her saree while casting her vote. The complaint was registered with the returning officer and forwarded to the CEO as well.
Meanwhile, BJP’s chief election agent for Coimbatore South constituency R Nandhakumar filed a complaint against actor Shruti Haasan for having entered polling booths in Coimbatore South constituency while the poll process was on. The complaint read, “Makkal Needhi Maiam chief Kamal Hasan‘s daughter Shruti Hasan has violated the electoral rules by trespassing into the booths in Coimbatore South constituency during the time of polling.” The petition was submitted to the returning officer seeking due action against her for violating the model code of conduct.