Voters of the Virudhunagar Lok Sabha constituency will be flooded with money for their votes during the Parliamentary election and the Election Commission cannot prevent it, Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam founder Vaiko has said. On the second day of his electioneering in Tirumangalam Assembly segment on Monday, he said a huge amount of money had been stashed all around the constituency.
“Currencies were transported in police vans and 108 ambulance services, he said, adding: “Each household will be given Rs.20,000. Neither the EC nor the police can prevent the distribution of money as it would be done in no time (in each village).”
The police were only intercepting ordinary farmers who were carrying small sums of money after selling their agricultural produce, he said.
Referring to Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar’s warning that those who took money for votes would face imprisonment, he wanted the EC to be practical as currency bundles would be thrown into houses in the early hours like milk packets were distributed. “Will you arrest the (innocent) people,” he asked.
The political party that had not bothered to pay compensation for the crop failure and not tried to mitigate the “people’s suffering during festivals”, was coming to “buy you for the next five years. If they are elected, you will not be able to see them again”, he said.
Mr.Vaiko said the money to be distributed was not “hard-earned” but “plundered (from the tax-payers)”, and appealed to the people to accept the cash. “But, please do vote for the party of your choice. Don’t get threatened by the claim that the cameras will reveal the party to which you cast your vote,” the two-time MP from the erstwhile Sivakasi Lok Sabha constituency said. Mr.Vaiko charged that a police officer had complained that his convoy on Monday violated the model code of conduct by having more than three vehicles during the campaign. “First, stop those vehicles accompanying (Chief Minister) Jayalalithaa. I will also comply. The law is the same for all... Does the Chief Minister have a separate law?” he asked.
