Opposition parties in Tamil Nadu are clamouring for stringent action against AIADMK leaders following the cancellation of by-polls to RK Nagar Assembly constituency by the Election Commission.
The EC on Sunday night rescinded its order to conduct the by-poll after the IT Department discovered incriminating evidence of efforts to bribe voters following searches at various locations and associates linked to State Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar.
The EC expressed anguish over “a huge and systematic design to distribute money to voters”. It said that preliminary results of the search and seizure included ₹5 crore in cash from the Minister’s confidants, and incriminating documents from the premises of Vijaya Baskar that pointed to distribution of over ₹89 crore in cash.
DMK working president MK Stalin demanded that the EC order a CBI inquiry covering all the ministers, including Chief Minister Edappadi Palaniswami, who figured in the documents found by the IT Department.
Despite the stringent efforts of the authorities to curb distribution of cash for votes, it happened, he said, adding that the authorities should also look into lapses on the part of the official machinery.
DMDK leader Vijayakant accused both the Dravidian parties — the two splinter groups of the ruling AIADMK and the DMK — of bribing voters. Candidates from both the parties should be disqualified from participating in the elections, he said in a statement.
He recalled that in the 2016 Assembly polls, the EC had called off elections to Aravakurichi and Thanjavur constituencies following concerns of cash distribution. But the same candidates had contested and won when the elections were held later, he pointed out.
By calling off the elections, innocent candidates of other political parties have also been affected, he said.
The RK Nagar by-poll was seen as a referendum on which of the ruling party factions — the one headed by VK Sasikala against that led by former Chief Minister O Pannerselvam — the people identify as the ruling AIADMK.
Following the death of former Chief Minister and AIADMK leader J Jayalalithaa, which necessitated the by-poll, the ruling party is going through a tumultuous succession fight that has resulted in the split.
Panneerselvam had stepped in as CM following Jayalalithaa’s death in December 2016. But Sasikala ousted him in an inner party coup by getting herself elected as general secretary following which Panneerselvam had to step down.
But Sasikala was convicted in the disproportionate assets case by the Supreme Court and jailed. Before surrendering to the authorities, she inducted her nephew TTV Dinakaran as Deputy General Secretary of the AIADMK. She also brought in Palanisami as the CM.
After the Election Commission froze the AIADMK symbol, Dinakaran contested under the party name AIADMK Amma and E Madhusudanan, a party veteran, was fielded by Panneerselvam under the party name AIADMK Puratchi Thalaivi Amma.