DMK enacting drama on SIR to divert attention on corruption charges, says Minister L Murugan

Chennai, Nov 3 (PTI) Union Minister L Murugan on Monday alleged that the DMK government was opposing SIR only to divert the people's attention from the corruption charges, especially the recent cash for job scam.

It enacted a "drama" by conducting all party meeting opposing the Special Intensive Revision, he said. "Yesterday, DMK's ally and MDMK chief Vaiko has claimed that there were 75 lakh bogus votes. If that is the case, can we face elections with those names? Does not the SIR show a need to update electoral rolls?" Murugan asked.

Calling upon all political parties to cooperate with the Election Commission of India in conducting the SIR, the Union Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting and Parliamentary affairs, said there's no use of this exercise after the election.

"SIR should be carried out before the poll. There are still six months left. The genuine voters should not be left out. At the same time the bogus votes, duplication of votes and those of the deceased should be removed from the voters' list. Hence, an updation of SIR is the need of the hour," he told reporters here.

Wondering why the DMK was opposed to SIR, Murugan said officials from Tamil Nadu including booth level officers would be present during the SIR. "The DMK is objecting to SIR, then does this mean it does not trust the state government employees?" Murugan asked.

Responding to a question on the alleged removal of names of the minorities from the electoral rolls, the Minister asked "how can the Commission remove the names of voters without their permission?" "How can such allegations be made when the SIR is yet to begin? All are voters. There is no such thing as minority or majority voters, please don't politicise," he said.

He further said, "its the wont of the DMK to mislead and distract the people whenever it faced corruption charges. In the present situation, it wants to distract people from the cash for jobs scam," the Union Minister alleged. PTI JSP JSP ROH