AIADMK coordinator O. Panneerselvan on Thursday condemned the alleged “actions of the DMK party men” behind the pressure on a Returning Officer to declare a DMK candidate as winner in T. Kallupatti town panchayat in Madurai district. He said the the people would teach the party a suitable lesson.

“If a government official is being threatened, what about ordinary candidates? The action of the DMK party men is condemnable,” the former Chief Minister said in a statement. If only the urban local body polls could have been held properly, the results would have been different, he claimed.

While the independent candidate in this case had bravely come forward to file a case, there were quite a few other candidates who could not approach the court fearing DMK party men, he said.

Money and muscle power and authority had won in the recent urban local body elections, Mr. Panneerselvam claimed and charged that the democracy had been given a burial. “It will not be far when people would teach a fitting lesson,” he said.

Former Chief Minister C.N. Annadurai had said people should not fear those in the administration, Mr. Panneerselvam pointed out. “On the contrary, the present situation in Tamil Nadu is that not only the people but officers are fearing those in the ruling dispensation.”