INDIA Bloc Protest: DMK Lost Due to ‘Vote Chori’, Claims VCK Founder

With the idea of taking the protest against Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar to other parts of the country, the INDIA bloc on Thursday held a protest meeting at Egmore in Chennai.

The highlight of this meeting was the participation of TVK, which has now become part of the INDIA alliance. The protest condemned the “murder of democracy” and demanded the removal of the CEC.

Incidentally, VCK founder Thol Thirumavalavan, who walked out of the DMK-led alliance post-April elections to back the TVK government, endorsed the claim of the DMK that SIR was responsible for the Dravidian party’s loss in the hustings.

“The DMK was defeated through a systematic process of targeted voter deletion and electoral manipulation,” he said, suggesting that individuals were specifically targeted to ensure a negative outcome for the then ruling party, he said.

Thursday’s protest was led by Tamil Nadu Congress chief B Manickam Tagore and represented by School Education Minister A Rajmohan on behalf of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). It saw the cadres of the INDIA Bloc gather in large numbers, display their respective party flags and raise slogans seeking the immediate resignation of the CEC over the SIR exercise.

At the protest, various speakers alleged that millions of voters – specifically Muslims, tribal groups, and marginalised communities — were systematically removed from the electoral rolls under the SIR process, asserting that over 97 lakh voters were struck off the rolls in Tamil Nadu alone.

They argued that this process undermined the Constitution and represented a “democratic massacre” and expressed concerns that election processes were being manipulated to favour the ruling party, ie BJP.

They demanded transparency and the immediate reinstatement of unfairly removed voters.

Stepping up the heat against Gyanesh Kumar over the SIR process, the INDIA Bloc in Tamil Nadu held a massive protest here condemning the “murder of democracy” and demanding the removal of the CEC, with the agitation witnessing the participation of C Joseph Vijay-led TVK in the state days after it joined the opposition alliance.

The TVK, its key ally, the Congress and other constituents of the INDIA Bloc including VCK attended the protest seeking action against Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Kumar over the Special Intensive Revision (SIR) of electoral rolls.

Incidentally,VCK founder Thol Thirumavalavan, who walked out of the DMK-led alliance post April elections to back the TVK government, blamed the SIR for the Dravidian party’s loss in the hustings.

“The DMK was defeated through a systematic process of targeted voter deletion and electoral manipulation,” he said, suggesting that individuals were specifically targeted to ensure a negative outcome for the then ruling party.

Thursday’s protest was led by Tamil Nadu Congress chief B Manickam Tagore and represented by School Education Minister A Rajmohan on behalf of the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK). It saw the cadres of the INDIA Bloc gather in large numbers, display their respective party flags and raise slogans seeking the immediate resignation of the CEC over the SIR exercise.

At the protest, various speakers alleged that millions of voters – specifically Muslims, tribal groups, and marginalised communities – were systematically removed from the electoral rolls under the SIR process, asserting that over 97 lakh voters were struck off the roles in Tamil Nadu alone.

They argued that this process undermined the Constitution and represented a “democratic massacre” and expressed concerns that election processes were being manipulated to favour the ruling party, ie BJP.

They demanded transparency and the immediate reinstatement of unfairly removed voters.