Chief Electoral Officer Rajesh Lakhoni has told the Madras High Court that a police complaint had already been lodged with respect to large-scale distribution of money to voters during the bypoll notified for R.K. Nagar Assembly constituency in March and that it was up to the Commissioner of Police, Chennai city, to complete the investigation and file a final report.
In his counter-affidavit to a writ petition filed by an advocate, the CEO said the Income Tax department had sent a report to the Election Commission on April 8 indicating the alleged involvement of Health Minister C. Vijaya Baskar in bribing the voters. Pursuant to the report, the Commission on April 18 directed the Returning Officer (RO) to get an FIR registered.
The RO lodged a complaint with the Police Commissioner on April 21 and an FIR was registered on April 27 under Section171B (bribing voters) of the Indian Penal Code after obtaining necessary permission from the jurisdictional judicial magistrate. “The case is stated to be under investigation and it is up to the State police to take appropriate action to prosecute the offenders.
“The Election Commission will, however, follow up the status of the investigation and further prosecution with the police officials concerned without interfering with or influencing the course of investigation,” Mr. Lakhoni said in response to the petition filed by M.P. Vairakkannan, who had sought for a direction to the CEO to lodge a complaint with regard to payment of cash for votes.
In its April 8 report to the Election Commission, the Income Tax department had stated to have raided 32 places, including 21 in Chennai, belonging to the Minister and his associates after it received information on tax evasion and distribution of cash to voters during the byelection. The department also claimed to have seized several incriminating documents during those raids.
Contending that the Minister’s accountant Srinivasan was found in possession of some loose sheets indicating distribution of ₹89 crore to a number of politicians for further distribution among the voters, the I-T department had reported that prominent among his associates were actor Sarath Kumar and Tamil Nadu Dr. MGR Medical University vice-chancellor S. Geetha Lakshmi.
The CEO pointed out that the Election Commission had, on April 9, rescinded the March 16 bypoll notification not only on the basis of the I-T department’s report but also on the basis of 35 other FIRs registered against individuals who were caught red- handed by the election officials while bribing the voters either in cash or kind.
Mr. Lakhoni extracted the commission’s order, rescinding the election notification, in his counter-affidavit and it read: “Many complaints were received by the EC on possibilities of inducement of electors by distributing cash and gifts in innovative forms like tokens, prepaid phone recharge coupons, newspaper subscription, milk tokens, money transfer in no frill accounts in banks and even mobile wallet payment to mobile [phone] numbers.”
It went on to state: “Detailed enquiries were conducted on various complaints received relating to inducement or bribing of voters... Apart from cash, various items such as lamps, T-Shirts, silver plates, mobile phones and saris, which were used for distribution to workers, were also seized.”
