With the seizure of Rs 2 crore from the residence and premises of Aravakurichi DMK candidate K C Palanisamy and his son K C P Shivaraman in Karur on Wednesday night, the Election Commission has confiscated nearly Rs 100 crore from politicians, businessmen and others since the model code of conduct came into effect in poll-bound Tamil Nadu on March 4. Of this, Rs 37 crore has been returned.
"We have so far seized Rs 98 crore from various individuals, businessmen, politicians and others. When proper documents were produced, income tax and revenue department officials returned Rs 37 crore. The rest of the cash seized is in the treasury, and probe is on to find out the source," said a senior Election Commission official.
On Tuesday night, income tax officials seized Rs 2 crore from the residence and premises of Palanisamy and his son Shivaraman at Chinna Ananda Koil Street in Karur. "Based on a tip, we conducted a raid on the premises and seized the money. Similarly, Rs 2.29 crore was seized from three persons at Vikravandi in Villupuram district. We seized Rs 1.3 crore from Muralidharan Reddiar, Rs 63 lakh from J Srinivasan, a jeweller and Rs 23 lakh from a rice mill," said an IT official.
The election department has added more surveillance squads to check vehicles as polling day (May 16) nears.
"We have increased the total number of flying squads to 6,112 from 468. On Wednesday, we added 5,644 flying squads across all constituencies. The cash seized during this election is unprecedented," said the official.
The addition to the flying squads comes a day after Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi held a video conference with officials, including chief secretary K Ganandesikan, DGP K P Mahendhran and chief electoral officer Rajesh Lakhoni.
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