TIRUNELVELI: While pledging to take Puthiya Tamilagam (PT) beyond caste barriers, its leader Dr K Krishnaswamy said the party had failed to win even a single seat in the recent Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu due to upper caste people voting against it.

He told mediapersons on Sunday that the party had always worked for all sections of the society. But the message had not reached people properly.Hence, a concerted effort should be taken to project the right image of the party, he felt.

He demanded that the Government should announce a CBI inquiry into the conduct of elections in Ottapidaram Assembly segment, which, he said, was not fair.

"While police harassed Adi Dravidars in Ottapidaram Panchayat Union, which resulted in their poor turn out, in Kayathar Union, another group of people indulged in large-scale impersonation and bogus voting."

He said 19 booths in Kayathar Union, which recorded 95 per cent polling, witnessed large-scale rigging. Despite his repeated pleas, police failed to provide protection for Dalits in Kayathar Union, he alleged.

He noted that the administration had connived with the AIADMK leaders and more so the DMK supporters had fallen prey to the game plan of the AIADMK.

``Most of them believed tha AIADMK was bound to come back and hence they stopped working. This resulted in our defeat. If MDMK was with us, either we would have won or there was a greater chance of our losing with a biggermargin. How would Dalits vote for a combine where Vaiko was there?''

He accused Jayalalitha of sidelining Adi Dravidars during the Ministry formation. ``While all other sections of the society have been given due representation, Adi Dravidars alone have been ignored.''

Reacting to the cases against him, he said, "the previous Government did not arrest me because people in power knew that I was innocent and that the charges were false. Police who framed the charges also kept quiet because of the same reason."