A day ahead of the RK Nagar by-poll here, the AIADMK’s rival T. T. V. Dhinakaran faction today released a video purportedly showing late Chief Minister J. Jayalalithaa in a hospital here.
The footage of about 20 seconds, aired by TV channels, showed the AIADMK supremo in a nightdress, looking frail and sipping what appeared to be a health drink with the help of a straw. The Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu, Rajesh Lakhoni, told presspersons here that that television channels had been asked to immediately stop airing the clip.
Lakhoni said telecasting or displaying any election-related material 48 hours before the poll to the day of election was barred under election laws.
A year after Jayalalithaa’s death, the clip released by the Dhinkaran camp and made available to the media showed her in a reclining position in a corporate hospital bed. On her bedside was the portrait of a deity. However, the date and time of the footage is not known.
Jayalalithaa was admitted to Apollo Hospital here on September 22 last year after she complained of fever and dehydration. She died on December 5 that year after 75 days in hospital. There was no immediate response from Apollo Hospital to a query on the veracity of the video. The video showed her sipping the drink with a straw from a use-and-throw glass topped with a lid.
Ruling AIADMK sources refused to comment on the video. Jayalalithaa represented RK Nagar constituency.