Chennai, October 12 (Daily Kiran) : Tamil Nadu Congress President and MP Manickam Tagore has attributed the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam’s (DMK) recent electoral defeat to issues of corruption, deteriorating law and order, derogatory comments against women, and poor treatment of coalition partners. He dismissed claims that the loss was due to voters being removed from the electoral rolls.
In a post on the social media platform ‘X’, Tagore questioned the explanations provided regarding the party’s losses in the 2026 assembly elections and recent by-elections. He referenced assurances made by DMK President and then Chief Minister M.K. Stalin prior to the elections.
Tagore recalled a speech by Stalin at a training conference for polling station committee members in Madurai on February 21, where Stalin assured that the DMK had worked tirelessly to ensure no voter’s name was removed during the special intensive revision of the voter list.
He noted that Stalin highlighted the party’s organizational strength, mentioning 75,032 booth-level agents and a network of 5.5 lakh polling station committee members, claiming this would guarantee victory in the assembly elections.
The Congress leader questioned how the party could claim that the process had been successful before the voting, yet later blame the same process for their defeat. He also referred to a memorandum submitted to the President, which stated that elections should only be annulled in states where there was concrete evidence of vote tampering.
Tagore pointed to allegations of voter list discrepancies and electoral irregularities in West Bengal, Assam, Bihar, Maharashtra, and Haryana, while noting that no such complaints had arisen in Tamil Nadu, Kerala, or Puducherry regarding the special intensive revision process.
He urged the DMK to reflect on its governance, arguing that widespread corruption accusations, failure to maintain law and order, insulting remarks towards women, and disrespect towards coalition partners led voters to reject them. Tagore also questioned the absence of DMK MPs at protests in Delhi demanding the resignation of the Chief Election Commissioner.
He remarked that leaders from leftist parties, VCK, and MDMK participated in these protests and were arrested, suggesting that the DMK stayed away out of fear of upsetting the BJP. He emphasized that if the party is committed to the welfare of Tamil Nadu, democracy, and secularism, it should engage in such protests.
Tagore concluded by stating that voters would not accept any explanation that contradicted the party’s earlier promises regarding the security of the voter list.
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