For the first time, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa has challenged the Election Commission of India for some of its accounting norms. Certain rules introduced by the ECI has come as an irritant to the AIADMK general secretary which forced her to unleash a verbal blitzkrieg on the Commission on Thursday.
Rallies addressed by Jayalalithaa are known for their uniqueness. The AIADMK chief spoke to the mammoth crowd for 40 minutes listing out the issues before the electorate while the party candidate stand near her with the hands folded in namaste mode. Towards the end of the speech, Jayalalithaa asks the audience to vote for the party candidate whom she will introduce extolling his/her virtues.
However, Thursday’s AIADMK rallies at Salem and Namakkal were different.The candidates were conspicuous by their absence while the senior leaders of the AIADMK sat in the row of chairs meant for them.Jayalalithaa was at her acerbic best as she demolished the claims of the DMK and its 10-year-old ally Congress. As she wound up her speech, Jayalalithaa told the audience that because of the stringent norms introduced by the ECI, she was not allowed to utter the name of the candidates.
“If I introduce the candidate to you in this meeting, the expenses of organising this mammoth meeting would be added to the election expenditure of the candidate. My candidate is absent due to Election Commission’s rule. I can’t even mention candidate’s name,” the AIADMK supremo said hitting out at the Commission.
“Election Commission’s act is a mockery of democracy. Though the people make it to the meeting venue to listen to me at their own expenses, why should the Commission introduce such anti-people laws and procedures,” she thundered vowing to challenge this rule.
Praveen Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer, Tamil Nadu, told The Pioneer that the norms stipulate that a candidate should not spend more than Rs70 lakh as expenses towards the lok Sabha elections. “The law has been there for quite some time. We add the cost of holding such rallies towards the election expenditure of the candidate,” said Kumar.
Though Jayalalithaa is on a whirlwind campaign tour all over the State in a hired helicopter, the charges of chartering the chopper is not included in the expenses, said Kumar. “There are exemptions for certain people and hence the chartering of helicopters are not counted as expenses incurred,” said the CEO.