Talking to newspersons here, CPI State Assistant Secretary C Mahendran alleged that besides propping up independents and financing them, the AIADMK was indulging in wholesale purchase of functionaries of other parties.

The party has forwarded a complaint to the Commission yesterday itself, he added.

The CPI, contesting as part of the DMK-led DPA alliance, has fielded candidates in 10 constituencies.

Citing the example of Sivaganga, he said a Congress rebel, facing a CPI nominee, was using the Congress flag during electioneering.

The police have failed to act on a complaint in this regard and the election officials too have turned a deaf ear, he regretted.

He also alleged that the AIADMK, ''gripped by fear of losing the elections, has been financing the campaign of the Congress rebel in Sivaganga and independents in many constituencies in the southern districts, like Kadayanallur and Thiruparankundram. ''Aiding and abetting defections and enticing caste leaders with considerable clout were being done without any sense of guilt or shame,'' he alleged.

Likening the AIADMK’s tactics to 'pre-poll'rigging, Mr Mahendran called upon the EC to maintain vigil even in the night when cash was being distributed to the ‘destabilising agents’.

The CPI veteran also criticised Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa for ‘misusing and mishandling’ the women SHGs preventing genuine participation of women in the public sphere.

To a question, he dismissed poll surveys, predicting a close contest between the DPA and the AIADMK combine as an attempt at ‘manufacturing consent’.

UNI CR VV PM RK2010