Chennai: Hours after the Election Commission of India ordered the transfer of Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Muruganandam posting senior IAS officer Saikumar in his place, Chief Minister and DMK president M K Stalin hit out at the poll body. Already the EC had transferred the DGP in-charge. “I strongly condemn the Election Commission, which, instead of coming to the field to campaign openly in support of the BJP, has been functioning with full zeal in the election arena, and has now crossed the line by transferring Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary Mr. Muruganandam, IAS, in a one-sided and high-handed political move,” he said in a statement. Stalin alleged the EC has become a tool in the hands of the BJP government, carrying out the party’s directives, which “is a matter of shame”. The constitutional safeguards granted to the EC are not meant for doing election work for the BJP, he said adding, it was acting with an authoritarian mindset under a BJP regime that is eager to steer the country towards dictatorship. The poll body was “oblivious to the fact that it has dragged its own dignity through the streets”.
The DMK leader questioned why such transfers had not been effected in BJP-ruled, poll-bound Assam.
“It is unbecoming of the EC to act with such eagerness to aid electoral malpractices that the BJP, in alliance with the AIADMK, is preparing to carry out in Tamil Nadu. Officials of the Commission may hold office today and leave tomorrow, but undermining the neutrality of an institution created by our constitutional forefathers to earn the trust of the people is a grave danger to the nation and to the very idea of free and fair elections,” he said.
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He said the Prime Minister, who brought in a legislative amendment to override the Supreme Court’s judgment and assert that he would personally select the Chief Election Commissioner, and the BJP-led Union government, may not understand the sanctity of the Election Commission. The poll body has been saffronised, he charged. “No matter how many officials are transferred, the BJP is certain to face a crushing defeat in Tamil Nadu. The EC’s high-handed overreach in favour of the AIADMK-BJP-led NDA alliance is the height of arrogance, akin to believing that hiding the comb can stop a wedding,” Stalin said.