Election Commission exposes cash-for-vote in Tamil Nadu polls

A confidential report prepared by the public election department for the Election Commission of India is to reveal that milkmen, newspaper boys and goondas were used by politicians to distribute cash for votes in the recently-held Assembly polls. Though partymen are usually used for distributing cash-for-votes in large numbers, 691 complaints relate this time to envelopes without any names on them with cash inside being distributed among voters, besides 22 complaints of newspaper boys giving cash have been received, a top official told this newspaper.

In the case of newspaper boys and milkmen, 34 complaints were received, of which 29 cases have been accepted for further action. There were also cases in which goondas were involved in cash distribution. Of the 36 complaints received in this category, 29 were booked with the police registering FIRs.

The network put in place by the EC received 5,825 complaints of partymen distributing cash for votes, of which 5,463 were accepted. Police action after registering an FIR has been taken in 90 per cent of the serious complaints and about 60 cases are pending in this regard, the official said.

To a query on other modes of freebie distribution, the official clarified that in 146 cases, people with votes have accepted gifts and another 34 accepted tokens from politicians. There were 17 cases of the public receiving gold and silver items.

Most of the cases relating to model code violations were related to AIADMK and DMK and there were also cases in which the public were not cooperating with inquiries related to poll violations, another official on poll duty said.

There were also 1,088 specific cash distribution complaints and the district collectors have been instructed to take necessary legal action in this regard. Based on the judicial orders further action will be taken, the official added.

“Currently, most of the poll-related cases are not dealt with seriously and end up with fines by metropolitan magistrate courts,” Madras high court advocate Ram Kumar said. The political parties and activists should take up these cases in a collective format and file a PIL with the high court and some landmark judgment may help to end this vote for cash menace, he said.

Box —- Paid News The ECI has received 65 complaints on paid news, of which 50 were accepted and 12 rejected, said public election department sources. Paid News is an electoral offence through an amendment of the Representation of People’s Act, 1951 and a committee has been formed to look into the issue. There were parameters prescribed by the Press Council of India and news items published favouring a particular candidate was also analysed during scrutiny and particularly news items favouring a candidate, not carrying a byline were also examined.

In all cases, the returning officers were instructed to give notice to the candidates within 96 hours of publication or broadcast asking why the expenditure should not be added to the candidate’s expenditure, an informed source said.

According to an amendment in the RP Act 1951, abetting the publishing of “paid news” for furthering the prospect of election of any candidate can be made an electoral offence under Chapter-III of Part-VII of the RP Act, 1951 with punishment of a minimum of two years imprisonment.