V.K. Sasikala’s name has gone mysteriously missing from the voters’ list. Along with her vote, 19 names, which were in the list from J. Jayalalithaa’s Poes Garden address, including that of her sister-in-law J. Illavarasi, is also not in the voters’ list. Poes Garden falls under the Thousand Lights constituency, one of the most watched constituencies in Chennai.
The names have been deleted from the rolls, after the process of converting Poes Garden residence into a memorial was initiated. While others, including Vivek Jayaraman, son of Illavarasi, got his name enrolled in yet another residential address, Sasikala and Illavarasi could not get enrolled as they were in prison. During the 2019 polls, as she was in prison, the question of Sasikala and Illavarasi coming to vote did not arise. Prisoners do not have voting rights under the People’s Representation Act. But now, she is not a prisoner and she has served her four-year jail term.
“This is atrocious. How can her name be deleted from the voters’ list? Did the authorities intimate her?” asks Thousand Lights AMMK candidate N. Vaidhyanathan. Though Sasikala’s counsel, Raja Senthur Pandian, approached the Election Commission, immediately after Sasikala was released from the prison, the commission had completed the process of addition or deletion in the electoral rolls.
“The commission said they cannot do anything as the rolls have already been published,” said Raja Senthur Pandian. He adds that no intimation was sent to Sasikala in the prison, saying that her name has been removed from the voters’ list, when the state government took over Veda Nilayam.
However, Vaidhyanathan claims that the deletion was purposely done on the advice of Chief Minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami. “She made him the chief minister. This is betrayal. The [Chennai] corporation or the Election Commission alone cannot be held responsible,” he told THE WEEK. When asked to clarify, sources in the Chennai Corporation say that all the 19 names from the Poes Garden house—including that of cook Rajamma, security and other workers—were removed from the list even before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, once the government took over the Poes Garden house for converting it into a memorial.
But, says Vaidhyanathan, the case is still pending in the court as Jayalalithaa’s niece and nephew, Deepa and Deepak, have challenged the move to convert the house into a memorial. “The court has still not passed an order in favour of the government,” tells Vaidhyanathan. But Thousand Lights constituency, always gets attention, as VVIPS including M. Karunanidhi and Jayalalithaa had their votes here. And superstar Rajinikanth and DMK chief M.K. Stalin also have their votes from Thousand Lights. Apparently, Rajinikanth once told the media, after registering his vote, “I voted for Two Leaves.”
“Sasikala would definitely vote for me. In case, she had come to vote, she would have come out with a same statement like Rajinikanth then,” tells Vaidhyanathan.
Sasikala, who is 66, was given a rousing reception by her party men, when she came out of the Parapana Agrahara Prison on February 7. But she may not be able to vote on Tuesday.
