Tamil Nadu seat sets dubious record in unaccounted cash seizures

CHENNAI: Does Tamil Nadu have a larger black money economy than most states or is poll expenditure here higher? Election Commission officials have so far seized Rs 1.3 crore in unaccounted cash and gold worth Rs 3 crore in Yercaud where a bypoll is due on December 4. The seizures were made during surprise checks that began on October 4 when the poll dates were announced.
For a perspective on the seizures, try this — in the five states where the poll process is underway, total assets confi scated in the same period were worth Rs 16 crore.In Rajasthan, which votes on December 1, and MP, which goes to polls on November 25, EC has so far made seizures worth Rs 12.69 crore. In Chhattisgarh , they recovered Rs 3.86 crore since October 4. Only a few lakh rupees were recovered in Delhi and Mizoram. This means unaccounted cash and gold found in a single TN district ahead of a bypoll are worth nearly 25% of similar seizures across five states holding elections. The seizures in TN show the role money plays in campaigns , observers say. The EC teams at Yercaud and Salem have seized Rs 1.3 crore in cash, 10kg of gold worth roughly Rs 3 crore, 10kg of silver and liquor bottles.
The use of cash and gifts to lure voters is not new. During the 2011 TN elections , Rs 36.54 crore unaccounted cash was seized ahead of the polls. “Before the Yercaud by-election date was announced , we began training police to seize cash that could not be traced to a proper source,” chief election offi cer Praveen Kumar said.