Christians from the Nazareth zone CSI Church in Thoothukudi protested against the incumbent secretary for the removal of their names from the electoral roll.
The most affluent church in the district, the CSI Church in Nazareth Zone in Thoothukudi district, has fierce competition for the post of the secretary who controls the church’s assets. Industrialist SDK Rajan, the current secretary of the church, manages the multi-crore assets, schools, and colleges owned by this church.
The church election committee is preparing for the secretary election, which is set to take place in August. In this situation, there are complaints that the names of many voters of churches in many towns including Thangammalpuram and Bandaravilai have been removed from the voter list.
Christians affiliated with the Church alleged that incumbent secretary SDK Rajan has removed voters’ names to ensure that he is elected again.
The name of a young man and his family was removed from the voter list for marrying a Roman Catholic woman in Bandaravilai. They alleged that hundreds of names were removed from the voter list at the instigation of SDK Rajan, setting a new rule that whoever works in Chennai has the right to vote only if they are in the Nazareth Zone for at least 120 days.
The couple protested by locking the election committee room inside the church and demanded that their names be added to the voter list.
Police arrived on the scene when tensions were high near the church and persuaded protestors to disperse, but the protesters remained persistent in their demands. When questioned about the charges made by the voters, Church secretary and industrialist SDK Rajan said that the names were deleted only in line with the guidelines.
(with inputs from PolimerNews)
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