PMK stays away from multi-party meet on SIR of electoral rolls despite invite to Ramadoss

The PMK stayed away from attending the multi-party meeting chaired by DMK leader and Chief Minister M.K. Stalin to discuss about the Election Commission’s SIR exercise in Chennai on Sunday.

The DMK had sent an invitation to PMK founder S. Ramadoss, who is at loggerheads with his son Anbumani.

Salem West MLA R. Arul, a supporter of Dr. Ramadoss, said he did not attend the meeting so as to not seem as though the party founder was already allying with the DMK. “Only alliance partners participated without the presence of major opposition parties. We did not want to be seen as an ally of the DMK,” he said.

K. Balu, a spokesperson and supporter of Dr. Anbumani, however, slammed the DMK for criticising what he called was a ‘normal exercise’ by the Election Commission.

“Addition and deletion of voters from the electoral rolls is normal. In many constituencies, there are many voters who have died and those that have either moved away from or newly moved into the constituency. These things have to be corrected. As far as the DMK is concerned, the party is an expert in casting the votes of deceased electors and that is why it wants to stop the exercise. They will be defeated this time,” he claimed.

Two days ago, Dr. Anbumani had also supported the SIR.