Parties vie for voters with polls around the corner
A Subburaj, TNN | Apr 13, 2015, 08.40AM IST
COIMBATORE: AIADMK, DMK, Congress and BJP have begun ground work for the upcoming assembly elections. On Sunday, AIADMK and DMK party functionaries approached new voters at the special camp held for linking Aadhaar card to voters' ID, and also started campaigning on the sides.
However, officials intervened and warned to not campaign inside the camp premises.
Special camps for linking Aadhaar card to voter's identity cards were held in Coimbatore urban and rural areas on Sunday. Thousands of voters came to the camp to submit photocopies of their Aadhaar and voter's ID to polling officials at various centers. Officials also received mobile numbers and email IDs from the voters and obtained their signatures on the electoral rolls.
A group of AIADMK and DMK functionaries camped at the Bishop Ambrose College near Sungam on Sunday and approached new voters inside the camp. The party functionaries brought Form 6 (inclusion of name in electoral roll) and issued them to the new voters. They also helped new voters to enroll their names in the electoral roll. Few of the party functionaries told the new voters that they should support their party in the upcoming assembly elections.
"We helped the voters enroll their names in the electoral roll," said DMK 74th ward secretary M Meganathan. He said the district administration had not employed enough staff to manage the crowd, despite asking voters from ward 74 of the Coimbatore Corporation to produce their photocopies at the camps. So, we helped the new voters and we hope to garner more new votes this coming elections, he said.
Election officials, after receiving complaints from other political parties, ordered AIADMK and DMK member campaigning at the special camps at Neelikonampalayam, Singnallur and Kavundamapalayam, to vacate the camp premises.
"This is not an election campaign. So, we warned functionaries to not approach voters in the camp. Parties were trying to woo new voters, but this is not an enrollment camp," said a senior official from the district administration.
Meanwhile, Congress conducted a meeting at RGP marriage hall at Kavundampalayam on Sunday and selected ward presidents who will be facing the upcoming assembly elections. "We decided to appoint a ward president, a vice-president and a secretary for 100 wards that fall within the Coimbatore Corporation. In a few weeks, we will appoint the booth vice-president and secretary in the city.
We wanted to unite all factions. We are going to conduct a training camp for booth committee members," said Congress' Coimbatore district president VMC Manoharan.
BJP district president R Nandakumar conducted a meeting at the party office on VKK Menon Road here on Sunday. He told TOI that the party has divided all the 100 wards into 12 zones. "We have been appointing ward-in-charge for every ward and getting ready to appoint booth committee membersWe have printed three lakh pamphlets about the achievement of Modi's government and we will be distributing them to the public next month," said Nandakumar. Over 250 members from DMK, AIADMK joined the BJP party on Sunday.
DMK south-urban district secretary Nachimuthu said that the party appointed a ward secretary for each ward and that they were focusing on increasing the membership of the party. "Our functionaries are approaching voters door-to-door to know about the people's mentality in the upcoming elections," said Nachimuthu.