Other parties are sending feelers, says Jayalalithaa

Chennai, May 13 (IANS) AIADMK general secretary J. Jayalalithaa Wednesday said that though there were feelers from many parties, she would wait till the election results were out before planning her next move. She also accused DMK supporters of casting 'bogus votes' at a polling station and called for deployment of paramilitary forces.

'There are feelers from many places. I am not responding to them now. Everything depends on the election results. If the results are as expected then I will go to Delhi,' the former Tamil Nadu chief minister told reporters here after casting her vote.

'Overtures are being made by many parties but I am not responding to overtures right now,' she added, and reiterated that she 'preferred' to wait for the results on May 16 when she would proceed to Delhi to decide further moves.

She also complained about the 'manipulation' of electronic voting machines across Tamil Nadu and 'bogus voting' in the Central Chennai constituency while appealing to officials and police to help build confidence in the public to enable them to vote.

'In many polling stations the voting machines are malfunctioning. If a voter presses the button against the 'two leaves' symbol (AIADMK) the light against DMK's symbol 'rising sun' comes on. In South Chennai constituency more than 150 voting machines are not working.

'In a polling booth in Triplicane (in Chennai), voters who came at 7 a.m. found a group of DMK rowdies casting votes. On seeing the same group of men coming in and out of the booth at regular intervals, the public chased them away.'

She called for immediate deployment of paramilitary forces in polling stations and said that DMK supporters took to violence in the Ice House polling station here, which is within 100 metres of a police station and one kilometre from the state police headquarters.

'People were standing in a queue to cast their vote when DMK rowdies barged into the station to cast bogus votes. The MMK workers were attacked with deadly weapons when they tried to prevent the DMK sympathisers,' Jayalalithaa said.

According to her, if the AIADMK-led front does not win the elections in Tamil Nadu it will be due to 'these kinds of activities'.

Election Commission officials said AIADMK leaders have met poll officials and urged them to take preventive actions.

In a statement issued here, Jayalalithaa said the DMK-Congress alliance, fearing defeat, has planned booth capturing in a massive way.