The name of VK Sasikala, the confidante of late Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa, has been "removed" from the voters' list without her knowledge and it is an "injustice", she has said through her legal counsel. She was sad about it and legal action will be initiated against officials responsible, her lawyer said yesterday. Tamil Nadu goes to the polls today.
A senior poll officer, speaking to NDTV, put the onus on the 66-year-old for losing her chance to vote this time. "There is no conspiracy in this. It was her responsibility to ensure that her name is added," the electoral officer said.
Ms Sasikala's name had earlier figured in Chennai's Thousand Lights Assembly constituency, her counsel N Raja Senthoor Pandian said, according to a PTI report. She was previously a resident of Ms Jayalalithaa's Poes Garden residence, which was converted into a memorial by the AIADMK government.
Sometime after her release from prison in January, Ms Sasikala had said she would stay off politics. She had served a four-year sentence in a disproportionate assets case, of which the late Chief Minister, too, was convicted.
On getting to know of her name going missing, Mr Pandian apprised the Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo of the matter. He was allegedly told by the official that the deadline to make inclusions or deletions had expired, PTI reported.
Ms Sasikala's counsel asked why a notice on the deletion was not sent to her even though official communication from other arms of the government was being addressed to the Parapana Agrahara Prison in Bengaluru.
Mr Sahoo replied saying it was not clear who was responsible for this. However, any process related to the matter could now be taken up only after the culmination of the election process, Mr Pandian was told, according to the agency report.
The counsel informed Mr Sahoo that legal action would be initiated against the official responsible, PTI reported.
