AIADMK slams DMK as Udhaynidhi Stalin wears shirt with party symbol while casting his vote

Chennai, Apr 06: The AIADMK on Tuesday slammed the DMK and accused its leader Udhaynidhi Stalin of violating the model code of conduct, alleging that he visited a polling booth to cast his vote wearing a shirt with his party symbol woven on it.

The AIADMK party lodged a complaint with the Election Commission alleging that it is "a blatant poll code violation" as he entered the polling booth wearing a shirt that had a DMK symbol.

However, the poll panel said that the symbol engraved on Udaynidhi's shirt was not DMK's official party symbol but of DMK youth wing. Udaynidhi is the secretary of the DMK youth wing.

Udhayanidhi Stalin, son of DMK's president is making his electoral debut in the Tamil Nadu elections. The actor-producer is contesting from the party stronghold of Chepauk-Thiruvallikeni. The Assembly constituency was represented by his grandfather and late DMK patriarch M Karunanidhi thrice from 1996 to 2011 before he shifted to Thiruvarur.

The Assembly poll in the state is being seen as a direct fight between the ruling AIADMK-BJP alliance and DMK-Congress opposition coalition. The other prominent parties that are in the electoral race include actor-politician Kamal Haasan's Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) and the newly-forged alliance between TTV Dhinakaran's Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam (AMMK) and Asaduddin Owaisi's All India Majlis-e-Ittehadul Muslimeen (AIMIM).

This is the first election in the state in decades without two prominent Dravidian stalwarts of Tamil Nadu politics - J Jayalalithaa and M Karunanidhi.