Vijayakant’s remarks on cash for votes to be examined: CEO

He has reportedly said, “Take money, if offered, as it is yours”

An observation, seemingly made by Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam founder-president Vijayakant casually on cash for votes, has sparked a row compelling the State poll authorities to look into the issue in detail.

During his campaign in Gummiddipoondi near here on Friday, Mr. Vijayakant was reported to have said that “take money, if offered, as it is your money.”

On Saturday, responding to persistent queries of reporters at a press conference, Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar said the remarks had to be examined in full to ascertain whether any offer of bribe had been made.

Though the CEO initially responded that there was no complaint in this regard, he hastened to add that “let the complaint come.”

Participating in the launch of a short film featuring film actor Kamal Hassan’s appeal to people to practise ethical voting,

Mr. Praveen Kumar said a mobile application was being developed to enable citizens to capture photographs on their mobile instruments and send them on real time basis to the poll authorities concerned.

Control rooms

Already, separate district-wise e-mail IDs had been created for people to send documents or photographs on distribution of money. Besides, in all the 32 districts, control rooms had been set up with 11-digit toll free numbers.

The office of the CEO has a control room with helpline number 1950 at the Secretariat.

Initially, the proposed application would be meant for those phones working on the Android platform. It would be made available to phones with others systems too.

Refusing to provide more details on the application, the CEO said the application would be available in public domain free of cost. It would be launched shortly.

First State

“Perhaps, ours is the first State to develop such an application,” he replied, asked whether poll officials in other States had come out with a similar facility.

Ajay Yadav, joint CEO (information technology) said the application was being developed by a private firm, which had been chosen through the ELCOT (Electronics Corporation of Tamil Nadu).