Stalin urges all parties to come together to ‘safeguard democracy’

MADURAI: Chief Minister MK Stalin on Wednesday charged the NDA with conspiring to steal votes in Tamil Nadu through the Special Intensive Revision (SIT).

“When the BJP’s defeat was evident in Bihar, they removed a large number of voters from the electoral roll, snatching their democratic rights. And now, they are trying to adopt a similar formula in Tamil Nadu. However, we are vehemently opposing the move, and the Kerala government has also joined the fight against SIR,” Stalin said while addressing a programme in Tenkasi.

The ruling DMK and its allies have been opposed to SIR and the government has convened an all-party meet on November 2 to decide on the next course of action after the EC recently announced the electoral revision from next month in poll-bound Tamil Nadu and other states.

The all-party meet over the SIR is an attempt to "safeguard democracy" and all parties should attend it, setting aside political differences, Stalin said.

“The right to vote is the basis of democracy, and we will overcome the BJP's efforts to snatch voting rights and vote theft and protect Tamil Nadu people's voting rights," the chief minister said.

Meanwhile, in a bid to shorten voting queues, the 12 states and union territories that will undergo the special intensive revision of electoral rolls next week will see more polling stations once the exercise is completed.

Bihar, where the voters' list clean-up exercise has already concluded, has become the first state in the country where every polling station has a maximum of 1,200 electors against 1,500 earlier.

The rationalisation would mean voters will have to spend less time in queues while waiting for their turn to exercise their franchise.

No one needs to teach us how to protect our people: Stalin’s dig at EPS

Tamil Nadu is progressing well on all fronts. The mission of the government is to make people happy, safeguard, prosper and deliver goods and services during this four-year tenure. The government in Tamil Nadu is all about people, who are with us, Stalin said.

“Since the government is working tirelessly for the people’s welfare and enjoys constructive relations with the people, it is giving sleepless nights to some people, who are politicising and spreading propaganda and lies about paddy procurement. AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K Palaniswami is no exception,” the CM said.

Refuting Palaniswami’s claims that the government is not procuring paddy from farmers, Stalin said the DMK government procured 70,45,545 tonnes, which is much higher than what the AIADMK government did, during their four-year regime. During the previous tenure of AIADMK, paddy procurement was just 70,293 tonnes, he added.

Stalin elaborated that unlike the AIADMK regime, when paddy procurement commenced in October, procurement under the ongoing regime began from September itself. “On a daily average, thousand bags of paddy are being procured from direct procurement centres, which function on Sundays too,” he noted.

Earlier, the chief minister inaugurated 117 development projects at a cost of Rs 141 crore, laid foundation for 83 infrastructure development projects at Rs 291 crore and extended welfare measures to the tune of Rs 587 crore to 2,44,469 beneficiaries through various schemes.

Based on a demand placed before the Centre for increasing the moisture content in paddy to 22 per cent from 18 per cent, the central team is inspecting paddy fields in the Delta region. But without having any basic data, Opposition leader Palaniswami is simply lying, Stalin said.

Referring to the heavy rains following the onset of northeastern monsoon, he said the government is taking welfare measures on a 'war footing' and that the DMK regime had faced three natural disasters since coming to power.

"Nobody needs to teach us the measures required for the safety of the people. We have faced three natural disasters after coming to power..." he said.

During this monsoon season, he said, his government has been responding to any emergency to protect people. “Flood shelters were arranged and basic facilities were provided to the needy. So there’s no need to teach us how to safeguard people,” he noted.

The CM made ten new announcements for the development of Tenkasi district.