Tension grips Annavasal during indirect election of town panchayat office bearers

Police lathicharge DMK men who pelted stones and staged protests

Tension gripped Annavasal in Pudukottai district on Friday when the indirect election for the posts of chairman and vice chairman of the town panchayat was held amid tight security as the police lathi charged a group of ruling Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) cadre who staged protests and pelted stones. Amidst the tension, AIADMK councillors Salai Ponnamal elected from ward 1 and K. Divya from ward 2 were declared elected chairperson and vice chairperson respectively.

Councillors of the AIADMK, which bagged eight out of the 15 wards in the town panchayat pushing behind the DMK which won in six wards, and an independent were given police protection following a direction of the Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court when they came for the indirect election. They were escorted safely after the conclusion of the election. The Annavasal Town Panchayat comes under the Viralimalai Assembly constituency from where former Health Minister C. Vijayabaskar was elected for the third time in a row in the 2021 Assembly polls. 

Anticipating trouble, a posse of police personnel was deployed at the town panchayat office and its vicinity where barricades were placed to prevent unauthorised persons from going inside the office. Sources said the AIADMK councillors and an independent councillor apparently came at the crack of dawn to the town panchayat office hours before the election was to be held. However, they were asked by the officials to remain outside where police protection was provided to them. Trouble began before the indirect election was held with a group of DMK men led by the party’s north district organiser K. K. Chellapandian besieging the town panchayat office. The sources said two DMK councillors who went inside the office returned back some time later.  

The contention of the DMK men was how could the AIADMK councillors enter the office at the crack of dawn much before the election was to be held. They sought the arrest of an AIADMK councillor who they suspected was behind what they claimed kidnap of their party councillor Vishwanathan who went missing after taking oath a couple of days ago. Police sources said the Annavasal police registered a ‘man missing’ case on a complaint from his wife.

Talks by the Superintendent of Police, Pudukottai, Nisha Parthiban with the protesting DMK members failed to convince them. Repeated announcements over the public address by the police and revenue officials asking the DMK members to vacate the spot fell on deaf ears.

As the police began to chase them, a section of DMK men attempted to scale the compound wall to gain entry inside the building. This aggravated tension prompting the police personnel armed with batons, shields and anti-riot gear to resort to lathi charge against the DMK members. The partymen pelted stones on the police leading to chaos. The DMK men accused the police of acting in favour of the AIADMK councillors while the law enforcers said they were only following the High Court direction.

Later, Minister for Law S. Regupathy arrived at the spot and held talks with the agitated DMK cadre. The Minister assured them that the issue would be brought to the notice of party high command and that necessary action would be taken after examining it.