Election Commission of India General Observer Saurabh Bhagat aided by Expenditure Observer Vijaykumar Singh on Sunday seized ₹5.64 lakh and 96 voter identity cards.
In a release, the district administration said following complaints, seized ₹14,000 and 96 voter identity cards from the office of a political party on Thondamuthur Road and ₹5.5 lakh from another political party office in P.N. Pudur.
They then asked the police to initiate action against those who violated the model code of Conduct.
Static surveillance teams and flying squads seized ₹9.27 lakh from five of the 10 Assembly constituencies and liquor worth ₹2.83 lakh from nine of the 10 constituencies on Sunday, said a release.
The Coimbatore District Police arrested three men who allegedly attempted to distribute cash to voters on behalf of the AIADMK near Sulur in the early hours of Sunday.
According to the police, a flying squad along with an Income Tax Department inspector visited Kadampadi, near Sulur, past midnight based on a tip-off.
The officials caught O. Ramasamy (37), T. Vinoth Kumar (32) and R. Suresh (23) with cash totalling ₹4,500 and took them to the Sulur taluk office. During this time, the accused allegedly threatened the officials, following which the I-T department inspector lodged a complaint at the Sulur police station.
All the three accused were booked under sections 171 E (Punishment for bribery) and 506 (1) (Criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code and were remanded in judicial custody, the Sulur police said.
The Kuniamuthur police seized cash totalling over ₹13,000 from a grocery store after complaints from DMK members on alleged distribution of cash for voters late on Saturday.
Police sources said on Sunday that many members of the DMK approached the Kuniamuthur police station claiming that the AIADMK men were distributing cash to voters.
After conducting a search, the police team seized ₹13,160 unaccounted cash from R. Thangaraja (48), who was the owner of the grocery store. He was booked under Sections 171 E (Punishment for bribery) and 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) of the Indian Penal Code and further investigations are on, according to the sources. City Commissioner of Police Davidson Devasirvatham also visited the police station late on Saturday.
Meanwhile, a DMK functionary Mayilvaganam, who was one of the party members that complained about the alleged cash distribution, claimed to the mediapersons that the Kuniamuthur inspector used derogatory words against him and said that he would file a complaint to the Election Commission of India.
Arrested
The Coimbatore District Police arrested functionaries of the DMK and AIADMK for their alleged involvement in election-related cases on Saturday.
A press release said that the Pollachi East police arrested an AIADMK functionary named Harish.
The Mettupalayam police arrested two functionaries each from the AIADMK (Noufal and Pradeepraj) and the DMK (Manoharan and Abbas). All the accused were remanded in judicial custody and the remaining accused involved in other cases who were absconding will be arrested soon, the release said.
