Coimbatore: Just four days have lapsed since the announcement of state assembly polls, but allegations of voter bribing by the ruling party have already started surfacing in Coimbatore and Tirupur districts.
DMK men lodged a complaint with Coimbatore collector K Rajamani on Tuesday, stating that AIADMK functionaries had stocked up gifts for distribution among the voters in the city. Singanallur MLA N Karthik, who met the collector, said they had thwarted a bid to distribute the gifts at Peelamedu on Monday night. “But their attempts to distribute the gifts is continuing, especially at night.”
DMK men said the gift hampers of dhoties and saris, which were wrapped in covers bearing the images of the late chief minister J Jayalalithaa and the incumbent CM Edappadi K Palaniswami, were stocked at the house of an AIADMK man at Peelamedu in Singanallur assembly segment.
“On Monday night, the gifts were taken out in a car belonging to a local AIADMK man for distribution. DMK ward secretary Madasamy spotted the car and we immediately complained to police and handed over the vehicle to them. But police released the car without taking any action. We have now petitioned election officials,” said advocate Krishnamurthy, of the DMK. After the incident, he said, AIADMK men had shifted the gifts to another location.
At Dharapuram in Tirupur, election officials had seized 1,700 saris and 4,500 dhoties, which were also wrapped in covers bearing the images of EPS, OPS, S P Velumani and Jayalalithaa, from a private college building on Monday night based on a complaint lodged by DMK cadres.
An election flying squad also seized 1,950 stainless steel plates from a mini-truck that was found on the college premises. “There was no one in the college when we seized these items. None have claimed ownership of these items and the college authorities have disowned them. So, we are probing if these were gift items meant to be distributed to voters,” said an election officer. The officials have, however, sealed the two rooms in the college where the dhoties and saris were kept.