DMK petitions EC seeking transfer of 5 state govt officials

DMK today filed a petition before Election Commission seeking transfer of five state government officials, including three Collectors, alleging they were either "relatives" of prominent AIADMK leaders or they had spoken in "favour" of the ruling party.
In a memorandum submitted on behalf of DMK Organisation Secretary R S Bharathi, the party sought the transfer of Collectors of Nilgiris, Tirupur and Salem, P Sankar, Jayanthi and V Sampath, respectively.
"Sankar was a close relative of former Minister K P Krishnan while Jayanathi participated in a pooja held during the arrest of Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in a disproportionate assets case last year," DMK alleged.

Sampath had "openly spoken" in favour of AIADMK, the party said referring to a statement made by Collector which had drawn severe criticism.
Divisional Revenue Officer of Tiruppur was a relative of Sasikala, while Erode DRO R Sathish was related to Chennai Corporation Mayor S Duraisamy, the petition said.
"As the above officials are either relative of AIADMK personalities or expressed their mind in favour of the ruling party and its supremo, by showing their loyalty in one way or other and in such circumstances, if they are allowed to take part in the upcoming Assembly election, there would be bias and favouritism in favour of AIADMK," DMK said.

The party urged the EC to "transfer" the officials from their incumbent posts to any other which was not related to poll duties, "in order to ensure free and fair election."

In another complaint, DMK alleged that state-run Multi System Operator Arasu Cable TV, Jayalalithaa's pictures were shown all day along with government programmes. "It is used as a propaganda machinery of the AIADMK," it claimed.
News channels run by opposition parties like Sun News and Kalaignar News (DMK), Captain TV News (DMDK) "were not allowed to telecast" and signals became weak when there were programmes criticising Jayalalithaa, it said.

The issue had been taken up with local Collectors, but to no avail, the party said.
"This conduct of Arasu Cable network is not only a violation of the Model code, but also violation of fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution of India," it said.
Seeking action against the "illegal" propaganda of AIADMK, the party also demanded that Kumaraguru IAS, MD of Arasu Cable Network, be transferred and its Chairman 'Udumalai' Radhakrishnan, an "AIADMK secretary", be prevented from interfering in any manner with functioning of the state-run MSO.