The Communist Party of India (Marxist) on Monday sought disqualification of candidates who have been charged with bribing voters in the R.K. Nagar Assembly constituency by the Election Commission (EC), which rescinded the byelection notification on Sunday night.
According to party State secretary G. Ramakrishnan, the EC’s decision was based on evidence of widespread bribery of voters. “Based on the same evidence, those candidates should be disqualified. Otherwise, the same candidates, who had distributed money, will win the elections subsequently like it happened in Aravakurichi and Thanjavur [where election was countermanded due to large-scale distribution of money in 2016],” he said.
Mr. Ramakrishnan alleged that the two factions of the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam and the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam distributed money in R.K. Nagar. “This shows that these parties have lost confidence in parliamentary democracy and have gone bankrupt in their ideologies,” he charged.
Documentary evidences seized during income tax raids conducted in the house of Health Minister C. Vijaya Baskar and his friends allegedly showed that money had been distributed in R.K. Nagar Assembly constituency. Criminal action should be taken against those accused. Mr. Ramakrishnan charged that the EC had failed to stop distribution of money in the constituency despite deploying ‘observers’ and paramilitary forces. “Purity of the electoral process is badly vitiated. Booth capturing and impersonation in casting votes alone are not against democracy. Money distribution to lure voters is also an assault on democracy,” he said.
“Our party had been campaigning among the voters by highlighting our ideologies and have spent a few lakh rupees on electioneering. But, by cancellation of the byelection, we are punished. The Election Commission should compensate us,” he said.
CPI sees BJP hand
Claiming that the BJP had a role in the cancellation of the by-election to the R.K. Nagar Assembly constituency, CPI state secretary R. Mutharasan has accused the Election Commission (EC) of dancing to the tune of the party. ”There was a link between the results of an election survey which predicted a DMK win if the by-election were to be held, and the reported demand of BJP state president Tamilisai Soundararajan that the election be scrapped. The events that unfolded pointed to the hand of the BJP in getting the election rescinded,” he said.
Vijayakant plea
DMDK president Vijayakant on Monday urged the Election Commission to disqualify candidates of the two AIADMK factions and the DMK who were involved in distribution of money to voters.
In a statement, he said that DMDK was the first party to call for countermanding of the R.K. Nagar bypoll.
He asked why Tamil Nadu alone was facing such circumstances when by poll has been conducted smoothly even in Kashmir where there are grave security concerns. “DMDK considers the postponement as a punishment for those candidates who wanted to compete in a fair manner. It is a waste of time and money for cadres who worked for DMDK. Whoever distributed money should have been disqualified,” he said.
