EC seizes Rs 24 lakh; Rs 120 crore has reached RK Nagar, say parties

CHENNAI: On a day when the election commission seized Rs 24 lakh allegedly meant for distribution in Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar constituency to bribe voters, political parties pointed fingers at each other in a closed door meeting with special officer and observer Vikram Batra.

While Batra was not available for comment, and chief electoral officer Rajesh Lakhoni did not respond to TOI queries, sources said the special observer had “taken note” of the contestants’ allegations and acknowledged privately that more needed to be done to curb cash distribution in the constituency.

On Sunday, DMK leader M K Stalin, after meeting Batra, told reporters that “at least Rs 100 crore had already been distributed by the AIADMK and

TT V Dhinakaran

supporters”.

Former legislator P Vetrivel, a Dhinakaran supporter, told Batra that Rs 120 crore had been distributed by the AIADMK, and some senior ministers were involved in the distribution. When asked about a woman TTV supporter being remanded on Sunday with Rs 20 lakh in her possession, Tamilselvan, another Dhinakaran supporter, dismissed it as afalse news. “She was carrying only Rs 12,000. It is what we give to our workers for day-to-day expenses,” he said.

Bribing has become an unwritten rule of bypoll: BJP state president

Former MLA Thanga Tamilselvan who, alongside Vetrivel and 16 other MLAs, was disqualified by the assembly speaker, said the ECI and state police were mute spectators to “daylight bribing” happening in R K Nagar. “We had given more than 100 complaints but the police have registered only 15 FIRs. There are no police teams to be found at spots where we catch (AIADMK) workers giving cash,” he said.

Pollachi V Jayaraman, deputy speaker in the state assembly told TOI that AIADMK’s opponents were perpetrating lies to tarnish their candidate’s (E Madhusudhanan) reputation. “It is the DMK and Dhinakaran team’s evil ploy. They are the ones bribing voters. Their men wear our party colours and distribute cash because they are afraid (of losing the poll),” Jayaraman said. Jayaraman denied allegations that the ruling party was influencing the police. “The constituency and the police are controlled by the ECI. So, I don’t understand how this question of (ruling party) controlling police arise?” he said, adding that the AIADMK requested Batra to ensure free and fair conduct of the bypoll.

BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan, who also met Batra, said the Edappadi K Palaniswami government was merely following the trend set by DMK in the past. “(Bribing) has become an unwritten rule of bypoll process,” she said, claiming that RK Nagar was “not a level playing field”. Soundararajan said Batra gave a patient hearing and took stock of “evidence related to bribing” in RK Nagar submitted by her.