CHENNAI: The Election Commission (EC) has announced it will take action against ruling Anna DMK’s rebel group leader TTV Dinakaran, who released a video of late chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on Wednesday, a day before the bypoll to RK Nagar constituency that fell vacant following her death.

Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni said a case will be filed against Dinakaran’s aide, disqualified MLA Vetrivel, for releasing the video. The release of a video by the leader of a political party will be considered as canvassing, he said. Campaign had ended on Tuesday in RK Nagar, where voting takes place on Thursday.

Lakhoni also said that if the proven guilty, Dinakaran might get two years of imprisonment.

The video shows Jayalalithaa in a hospital bed, with a glass of juice in her left hand and watching television. An Apollo Hospitals spokesperson confirmed that it was taken at the hospital, but insisted that the hospital did not take the video. Jayalalithaa spent 78 days at the hospital last year, before she died on Dec.5.

The video has angered Krishnapriya, niece of Jayalalithaa confidant Sasikala, whose nephew Dinakaran is. “Vetrivel has made a huge mistake and disrespected both Amma and Chinamma (Sasikala),” she told the media. “The video was given to Dinakaran by Chinamma to submit to the inquiry commission, if necessary. How did it get to Vetrivel’s hands? If Chinamma wanted to release it she would have done it when everyone was calling her a murderer. But she did not want anyone to see Amma in that state.” The release of this 20-second video has solved a few questions that were raised over Jayalalithaa’s death, but has raised new ones. There were several rumours that Jayalalithaa’s leg was amputated. But the video shows both her legs intact.

Releasing the clip at the Secretariat, Vettrivel said that “several forces” were trying to prevent them from releasing the video. He said there was no politics involved in releasing the video and it has got nothing to do with the RK Nagar by-poll. “We have more videos related to Amma’s treatment and will release them soon. The details about this video will also be revealed in time.” The bypoll, originally set in April, had to be cancelled as Dinakaran, then the ADMK candidate and several ministers were caught having stored up money to bribe voters.

A judicial probe is going on into the circumstances of Jayalalithaa’s death.

Senior minister D. Jayakumar said Dinakaran faction has disrespected the Commission set to probe Jaya’s death. There is no detail about when the video was taken.

Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami, whose government and the ruling party face an acid test in the bypoll, was silent on the development.

Minister CV Shanmugam said: “Why is the video released one year after Jaya’s demise. The genuineness of the video should be checked.” BJP state president, Tamilisai Soundararajan asked: “If Jayalalithaa was healthy to drink something, how did she die all of a sudden? The timing in which the video is released has also raised suspicion.” CPI leader Mutharasan said several doubts and problems could have been avoided if this video was released when Deputy Chief Minister O.

Panneerselvam raised doubts over Jaya’s death. Congress state unit chief S. Thirunavukarasar asked why this video was not released soon after Jaya’s death. It is being released now to gain advantage in the RK Nagar bypoll, he alleged.

The by-poll, widely seen as shaping the future political landscape of the state, has become a prestige battle for the top Dravidian parties, while the national parties try to get a foothold in the South. The EC has set up 258 polling booths for the 228,000 voters in the constituency. All of them have been declared as sensitive. An estimated 3,300 policemen, 900 para military personnel have been deputed on security detail to prevent any mishaps from happening.