4,690 cases filed over poll code violations in Tamil Nadu till April 19

Of the total 4,690 violations reported in the state till April 19, around 1,450 cases were reported against the ruling AIADMK, while 1,694 cases were reported against the DMK

Election holiday

For the participants in Y S Jaganmohan Reddy’s political campaign, achhe din has arrived. The staff has been given paid holiday for a month. While the junior staff gets paid holiday only, some senior employees have been offered holiday at a destination of their choice. Only a core team of about 20 people has been retained to continue working with Reddy on the final details. They have been promised "good rewards" if the results are good.

Attorney General under ‘attack’

During an unprecedented hearing in the Supreme Court on Saturday in which the chief justice of India heard "a case of grave national importance", Attorney General K K Venugopal lamented that he had been "under attack" from a lawyer for defending the government. Venugopal said he was an officer of the court and was simply assisting the court in his capacity as government counsel. His comments led to speculation about the identity of the lawyer who had "attacked" him. While many names came up, the consensus in the courtroom and outside was that it was either senior advocate Indira Jaising or public interest lawyer Prashant Bhushan. Bhushan and the AG are locked in a legal battle after the former alleged that the AG had misled the court on Rafale. This prompted Venugopal to move a contempt petition against Bhushan.

Model code? What’s that?

A report released by the Election Commission shows political parties in Tamil Nadu, especially the big two, are locked in some sort of a contest when it comes to committing the maximum number of violations of the model code of conduct. Of the total 4,690 violations reported in the state till April 19, around 1,450 cases were reported against the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), while 1,694 cases were reported against the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK). The smaller parties in the state also tried their best with 1,546 cases against them during the period. Most of the violations reported related to defacement of property. Almost 1,368 cases were reported from the southern part of the state, including from Madurai, Theni, Ramanathapuram, Sivaganga, Thoothukudi and Kanniyakumari.