AIADMK to file case against Election Commission

Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa Thursday said she will file a case against the poll panel for barring star campaigners from naming candidates in their speeches.

Addressing an election rally here, around 370 km from Chennai, Jayalalithaa fumed: "The Election Commission's directive that star campaigners should not utter even the name of the candidate will make a mockery of democracy. The AIADMK will file a case on this issue."

She wondered how it was justifiable to add the cost of the rally to the candidate's election expenditure if the party's star campaigner or leader named the local candidate and asked people to vote for him/her.

Jayalalithaa said the poll panel had also said that the mere presence of the candidate on the dais at a rally addressed by the party leader or key campaigner was enough to add the meeting's cost to the candidate's expense account.

She said the coming general election was not an ordinary one. It would

secure the people their freedom from corrupt rule and protect the country

from neighbouring countries,

Jayalalithaa said her government had fulfilled most of the promises made by her party during the 2011 assembly elections.

She said the DMK feared it would be pushed to the fourth position in the five-cornered contest in Tamil Nadu.

She reiterated that the wrong economic policies of the Congress-led UPA government had resulted in severe economic problems.

Earlier, Jayalalithaa, who was supposed to appear in a court in Chennai in connection with an income tax case, sought an exemption from personal appearance.

The court dismissed her petition and ordered her appearance April 10.