Jaya debunks DMK victory

Chennai, Oct 23 (UNI) AIADMK General Secretary and former Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today alleged that the ruling DMK won the Madurai Central Assembly by-poll by manipulating Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) and the civic polls by 'murdering democracy.' In a seven-page, statement, she alleged the EVMs used for the by-election were programmed in advance and micro-chips were fixed in such a way that for every ten votes cast in favour of the AIADMK's two leaves symbol, only two would go in its favour and the remaining in favour of the DMK's rising sun symbol.

Some officials had informed her about such malpractices in the by-election, which helped the DMK to win in the hustings, she said, adding, 'had the elections been held in a free and fair manner, the AIADMK would have romped home.' Alleging irregularities in the civic polls also, she said had the local body elections been held in a free and fair manner, the AIADMK could have won the elections, but the ruling DMK, fearing it would be exposed, became desperate and tried all means and won the elections.

A victory to the AIADMK in the civic polls would mean that the people had lost confidence in the government, she said, adding, the DMK was willing to pay any price for a victory and in the process, had 'murdered democracy', by unleashing large scale violence. If violence and booth capturing was done openly in the city, it was done systematically in the districts, she alleged.

Rejecting a suggestion that the AIADMK performance showed that its vote bank had been eroded and the party was losing popularity, Ms Jayalailthaa said 'the AIADMK is like an iron fort and no force can shake it. The party has a bright future and no evil force can deprive it of its future. Justice, honesty and truth will ultimately triump.' More UNI WS AA SB BS1811