Tamil Nadu: After parties empty cash vaults, voters will make deposits today

CHENNAI: Amid rampant voter bribing and an unprecedented seizure of cash and valuables by the Election Commission of India and the income tax department, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry are going to polls on Thursday to elect 40 Lok Sabha MPs. Alongside, 18 assembly segments in TN will have byelections.

During the high-octane campaign by four fronts led by the DMK, AIADMK, AMMK and MNM, rival leaders hit at each other, some below the belt. But what pulled political conduct to a new low was cash distribution across the state by virtually every political party, forcing the EC to countermand polls in Vellore. The Madras high court on Wednesday upheld the EC order and refused to interfere in the matter.


Scores of voters across the state who TOI correspondents spoke to said parties offered them cash, ranging from ₹200 to ₹2,000. Many of them admitted to taking the money. In all, EC and I-T squads have seized ₹198 crore in cash and ₹708 crore worth of gold and silver in searches across Tamil Nadu.

Having designated all the 39 seats in TN as ‘expenditure sensitive’, EC has had a tough time. Before seizing ₹1.48 crore in a late night operation at an AMMK election office in Andipatti on Tuesday, an EC squad had to face physical assault, and police had to open fire in the air to disperse the marauding crowd.

The opposition parties, meanwhile, have been charging that EC and I-T were selective in choosing their targets. While the opposition parties and candidates were being searched, the AIADMK-led front was by and large spared, they said. For instance, DMK Thoothukudi candidate Kanimozhi’s house and office were searched by I-T on Tuesday night, but nothing was found there.