On Monday, the Election Commission confirmed that the RK Nagar bypolls were postponed indefinitely after evidence of bribery surfaced on Friday. This is after media outlets said on Sunday that the polls will be cancelled by the EC, as The News Minute reported.
According to the documents seized by the I-T officials during their raids in Chennai on Friday and published by some media houses, the price of one vote in the bypoll-bound RK Nagar constituency was Rs 4,000 as TV channels reported.
The commission released its statement, explaining the events that led up to the decision, saying that the parties adopted innovative ways of bypassing laws which enforce entrusted authorities with the task of keeping an eye on unauthorised and illegal expenses incurred in the conduct of election campaigns.
After admitting the steps taken to curb malpractices had failed, the EC stated that the bypoll is indefinitely suspended.
Putting the onus of change on political parties, the report states that,
The top leaderships of the parties cannot feign ignorance about such illegal activities indulged in by the candidates set by the parties and the managers appointed by their parties to oversee the election campaign of their candidates.
In assembly constituencies, generally only 3 Flying Squad Teams (FSTs) and 3 Static Surveillance Teams (SSTs) are deployed during any election, states the report. But for the RK Nagar polls, 61 teams were deployed, keeping in mind the sensitivity of the constituency and past experience.
A total of 277 persons in 61 teams operating round-the-clock were put on job for enforcing the provisions of MCC, particularly, stopping distribution of cash or gifts in any form.
The commission stated that in due course of time when the factors used to allure voters are removed and the atmosphere becomes more conducive to holding free and fair elections, then a date will be decided for the polls.
The RK Nagar constituency was where former chief minister Jayalalithaa contested from, which fell vacant after her demise.
Documents were seized after raids on Health Minister Vijaya Baskar, which indicated crores of rupees being set aside to distribute to voters in the constituency.
The documents published by some media houses and doing the rounds in WhatsApp are what we had seized during our raids yesterday (Friday).I-T Official
As per the documents leaked to the media, the Sasikala-led AIADMK faction had given over Rs 89.5 crore to seven ministers for distribution among RK Nagar voters and they were given a target to distribute cash to 85 percent of the voters, numbering 2,24,145.
Other documents accessed by The News Minute indicate rampant corruption in transfer and posting by government, and other ‘tie-ups’ with private colleges.
In the 2016 Assembly elections, the Election Commission had postponed the polls in Thanjavur and Aravakuruchi Assembly seats citing large-scale bribing of voters.
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