Election Commission failed to curb cash flow, says Anbumani

PMK leader Anbumani Ramadoss, on Friday, said he would take up the issue of electoral reforms in the Parliament and urged the Election Commission of India to seek tougher electoral laws to curb the menace of cash.

Speaking to reporters here, Dr. Anbumani, who led his party’s election campaign and failed to win a seat, claimed that both the DMK and the AIADMK “drowned” the State with money and had bribed voters in every constituency.

He charged that the Election Commission was “toothless” and remained a passive spectator.

Citing the postponement of polls in Aravakurichi and Thanjavur, where large-scale bribing of voters was detected, he said the candidates who indulged in the irregularities, should have been disqualified.

“The laws should be amended in such a way that if a party is found to have distributed cash across constituencies, all its candidates should be disqualified. Unless this happens, the menace of cash in elections would remain,” he added.

On the party’s weak performance outside the Vanniyar-dominated northern and western districts, he said this was the first time the PMK contested so many seats in the southern region.

Third largest party

“The voters have made us the third largest party despite the vicious campaign that we are a party of a (particular) community,” he added.

Seeks disqualification of candidates who bribe voters; to

take up issue in Parliament