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| AIADMK MLA svote,Jayalalithaabstans |
| Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi arriving to cast his vote
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| INDIA
, 20-July-2007
2:27:21 AM |
| AIADMK MLAs sprang a surprise by turning up to vote in the Presidential election on Thursday although the party’s stated position was that it would abstain.
Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi was the first to cast his vote in the State for the Presidential elections while General Secretary of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam Jayalalithaa abstained from voting. Two MLAs from the Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam too did not vote.
Ms. Jayalalithaa, in a statement, said the party MPs and MLAs themselves decided to cast their vote “by way of abundant caution” against the backdrop of the Election Commission’s “wholly avoidable press note” issued on July 17. [The EC in its note said while MPs and MLAs could abstain from voting, political parties could not issue a whip.]
Ms. Jayalalithaa said she had planned to convene a meeting of the legislators of the AIADMK, which was one of the constituents of the United National Progressive Alliance, to give them necessary directions, as the alliance had decided to abstain.
In the meantime, the EC came out with a press note, which “created a lot of unnecessary confusion in the minds of all concerned,” she said.
She was engaged in getting legal opinion from constitutional experts from the night of July 17 to the afternoon of July 18, Ms. Jayalalithaa said, adding that she was advised against convening a meeting of her party MPs and MLAs as it would be “misinterpreted and misconstrued by the EC as an attempt to influence and intimidate” the legislators.
She was also asked not to issue any instructions to the AIADMK legislators. “Therefore I kept silent,” she said.
On all important occasions and issues the party legislators had been accustomed to receiving directions and instructions from her, Ms.Jayalalithaa said.
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