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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  Tamil Nadu’s history of cash for votes
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Tamil Nadu’s history of cash for votes

The rescission of the R.K. Nagar bypolls is not the first time Tamil Nadu has seen cancellation of elections on allegations of bribing voters

An election rally in R.K. Nagar constituency of Tamil Nadu. The bypoll to R.K. Nagar constituency was necessitated following the death of former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on 5 December. Photo: PTIPremium
An election rally in R.K. Nagar constituency of Tamil Nadu. The bypoll to R.K. Nagar constituency was necessitated following the death of former chief minister J. Jayalalithaa on 5 December. Photo: PTI

Chennai: The rescission of the R.K. Nagar bypolls is not the first time Tamil Nadu has seen cancellation of elections on allegations of bribing voters.

The Election Commission (EC) in its 29- page order, late on Sunday night said that the by-election to fill the vacancy of this constituency in Chennai “shall be held by the Commission in due course, when the vitiating effect created by the distribution of money and gift items to allure the electors, gets removed with the passage of time and the atmosphere in the constituency becomes conducive to the holding of free and fair election".

The order also stated: “Income Tax authorities have also informed that several complaints were received recently indicating that (health minister) C. Vijaya Baskar is the main person involved in bribing the voters in R.K. Nagar Assembly constituency which is going to bye polls on 12 April, 2017. Some loose sheets were found with his accountant Srinivasan indicating distribution of Rs. 89 crores to a number of politicians for further distribution among the voters."

The I-T department’s alleged paper trail has indicated the involvement of seven senior leaders—members of election working committee of AIADMK (Amma)—including chief minister Edappadi K. Palaniswami. The price of one vote in the R.K. Nagar constituency is Rs4,000, the leaked documents suggested. The EC order mentions the documents, a copy of which is in possession of Mint.

Also read | EC cancels R.K. Nagar by-election on cash-for-votes allegations

During the assembly polls in May 2016, the EC decided to cancel polls—in a first in India’s electoral history—to the Aravakurichi and Thanjavur constituencies, following reports of large scale distribution of money and gifts to voters by candidates and political parties. The polls to these constituencies were postponed twice and then subsequently cancelled, before being held in November 2016.

More than Rs100 crore was seized by the election monitoring officials in Tamil Nadu in May 2016. This was much higher than the Rs25 crore seized from the state during 2014 parliamentary elections and Rs35.53 crore in the 2011 assembly elections, according to the EC.

In 2009, the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) came up with its infamous “Thirumangalam formula"—a term that became popular after M.K. Azhagiri, son of DMK president M. Karunanidhi, won the 2009 by-election in Thirumangalam, Madurai district, for his party through alleged cash for votes.

A WikiLeaks document released in 2011 said, “From paying to dig a community well to slipping cash into an envelope delivered inside the morning newspaper, politicians and their operatives admitted to violating election rules to influence voters."

It also said, “M. Patturajan, former Mayor of Madurai and a confidant of Azhagiri, told us that ‘it is no secret at all, Azhagiri paid 5,000 rupees per voter in Thirumangalam’. S. Kannan, a mid-level Congress party official in Madurai, told us ‘the 5,000 rupees per voter in Thirumangalam changed everything’, noting that previous bribes to voters had topped out at 500 rupees."

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Published: 10 Apr 2017, 01:19 PM IST
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