The Edappadi K Palaniswami government, which is saddled with internal dissent and battling alleged ‘cash for vote’ charges, faced fresh onslaught from the Opposition on Sunday after it came to light that the Election Commission of India had ordered registration of FIR against the Chief Minister and others for alleged electoral malpractices during the Dr. Radhakrishnan Nagar by-election.
The apex poll body had recommended similar action against five of his Cabinet colleagues and the ruling AIADMK (Amma) deputy general secretary T.T.V. Dhinakaran, who was fielded from the constituency, last represented by former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa.
In April, the ECI had rescinded the by-election notification in the constituency after the Income Tax Department recovered certain documents from the house of Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar, indicating massive bribing of voters. The document purportedly contained the names of the Chief Minister and some Cabinet colleagues, who were allegedly vested with the responsibility of handling the money meant for distribution to voters.
A Chennai-based advocate M.P. Vairakkannan had filed an application under the Right to Information Act asking the ECI what action it proposed to take against Mr Dhinakaran, Mr Palaniswami, Mr Vijaya Baskar, School Education Minister K.A. Sengottaiyan, Municipal Administration Minister S.P. Velumani, Cooperation Minister Sellur K. Raju and Electricity Minister P. Thangamani for alleged election misconduct of distributing money to voters. To this, the ECI responded on May 25, saying “The Commission has directed that an FIR may be filed by the Returning Officer, in the instant case vide Commission’s letter dated April 18, 2017.”
The ECI enclosed the April 18 letter addressed to the Chief Electoral Officer, Tamil Nadu, which referred to the documents seized by the I-T Department.
