dna Exclusive | Money, media and Election Commission caused PMK failure in TN polls: Dr Anbumani Ramadoss

Despite facing a complete rout in the recent Tamil Nadu assembly elections, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) says it is gearing up for five years of hard work for the people of the state. The party contested in all the 232 constituencies with no alliance and projected itself as the alternative to the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu. The PMK’s chief ministerial candidate, Dr Anbumani Ramadoss spoke exclusively to dna on the positives that the party has picked up in the recent election and the way forward. Here are excerpts from the interview:

Why do you think PMK didn’t win a single seat this time? 

There are three reasons for the PMK’s defeat: money, media and the Election Commission. Traditionally, parties in the state used to bribe voters in at least 50-60 constituencies and it was only one party that did the bribing. But this time both the DMK and AIADMK bribed the voters. They spent crores targeting voters above the age of 40. On the other hand, PMK focussed on the voters below 40. Both these parties are not allowing people to grow economically or educating them so they are easy targets during the elections. Secondly, the media in the state also went against our party and they completely blanked us out. The opinion polls that were aired and the newspapers all created an illusion that the PMK party did not exist. We were shown as ‘others’ in some of the opinion polls despite being a three-decade old party. Some polls placed us fifth behind Vijayakanth’s party and the BJP. But we won 12% of the votes in the top 100 constituencies and placed third in 66 of them. I also think that opinion polls should be banned right from the day the election dates are announced. They made people believe that there are only two parties in the state and no alternative! Thirdly, the Election Commission was clearly siding with the ruling party. 

You lost in your own constituency Pennagaram. 

I was actually shocked I lost but in my constituency. Both the AIADMK and DMK were bribing people with Rs 1500 and Rs 500 respectively. So in most of the localities where we thought all the votes would be for us, it went against us because of the bribes. And the Election Commission was a mute spectator. I complained about the cash being doled out, but no action was initiated. 

Most of your votes were from the northern belt and for a Chief Ministerial candidate you need presence across Tamil Nadu. 

Every political party has its own strong territories and the PMK has it in northern Tamil Nadu. The DMK also has a stronghold in the north. The AIADMK has a strong presence in the west. We were strengthening the party in the south and the elections now have actually taught us many lessons, which will be implemented.

PMK was batting for alternative politics in the state without the DMK and AIADMK. Do you think you're still on your way to achieve this?

There are lot of positives the PMK has picked up from the elections and several lessons learnt. The PMK in this one year of going alone in the elections was able to garner 5.3 percent of votes. In 2011, we contested in 30 constituencies and got 5.23 percent but this time we went alone in all 232 and got 5.3 percent voteshare. For 13 years, we were in an alliance and in working alone for one year we were able to garner such a big number of votes. All our votes were from the upper classes and the literate population. Most of the youth of the state liked the party manifesto and we now have a large number of youth actually joining the party. Of course, there is a need for alternative politics in the state and people are looking for it. However, factors such as money and opinion polls which came out just before voting day all changed the mindset of the voters. There are people who listen to Anbumani and I have a huge responsibility to please the voters. DMK says they are here to bring a change, but they have at least 15 corrupt ministers who were offered seats. The party has to change from the roots. All the parties in the state copied our manifesto - Prohibition, Lokayukta, no freebies and creating revenue by using natural resources effectively. Stalin has been saying all through his campaign that their manifesto is the hero, however most of it is copied from PMK.

Your father, PMK founder Dr S Ramadoss, and you have different perspectives. Do you think that affected the party image in the eyes of the people?

Perhaps, but my leader has placed faith in me and our clear agenda is to emerge as the alternative to the Dravidian parties in the state. Change is what the people of Tamil Nadu want and that is what the PMK stands for. 

So will the PMK ever align with the DMK or AIADMK in future elections?

Never. We are very clear on that. But other parties can come and align with us.

If the Election Commission was a mute spectator, they wouldn’t have made a record seizure of Rs 105 crore. What do you say about this?

The Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni is of Tamil Nadu cadre and he cannot initiate any action against the ruling party as his Confidential Report (CR) is being done by the state chief secretary.  All election officials should be from other states. All the officers involved in polling have to be changed as the entire police department works for the state government. The election officials, of course, seized money but there is a need for electoral reforms which can be done by bringing about amendments. In the winter session of the parliament, I am planning to bring it up by speaking to the officials concerned. It is high time the Representation of People Act, 1951 is tweaked by bringing in amendments and I am currently working on this.

Polls in Aravakurichi and Thanjavur have been cancelled by the Election Commission due to cash for votes. 

Ever since the polling dates were announced, there has been large-scale money distribution. The election officials seized money and items such as sarees and earrings from the party candidates. In this instance, both the Dravidian party candidates were found with money but the election officials can only seize the money and cancel the polls. What we require is a system where the candidates are rejected and the party is stopped from contesting, say for the next two elections. The system needs to be completely overhauled by bringing in electoral reforms.  

What is going to be PMK’s future course of action? 

There is going to be a complete restructuring of the party which will happen in the next two months. There is going to be a direct communication with each of the representatives from the top to the village level. So far, in the last one year, we have only taken a top to bottom approach. But a majority of the population comprise of the lower level who will be our next focus. So now we are taking the bottom to top approach for the next five years. There will be a specific focus on issues pertaining to each locality, which will be addressed by the party. It is going to be a progressive way of doing politics and development will be the key agenda.