MADURAI: The district administration is expected to submit its report on the bribing of voters of West constituency to the Election Commission on Tuesday, according to sources.
Shocked by the seizure of a 40-page dossier on the polling day which appeared in several dailies, the ECI sought a detailed report from District Election Officer and Collector U Sagayam.
The dossier contained details of DMK functionaries who were assigned the job to deliver cash to the electorate in the constituency.
According to official sources, the district administration received instructions from the ECI to submit a report. The administration sources feel that this was not just the situation in Madurai West, but was more widespread than thought.
Hence, a comprehensive report with copies of news items which appeared in the dailies, copies of FIRs registered in connection with bribing of voters in the district, copies of the dossiers seized from DMK men, and substantiating evidences are being compiled. The report will be submitted to the Commission on Tuesday, the source said.
As the Election Commission and the district administration mull over the action to be taken regarding the rampant distribution of cash in Madurai West Assembly constituency, highly placed sources in the administration feel that mere repoll would not do the trick.
Thus if the ECI decides to go for a repoll in that constituency alone, then it will breed only adverse results. Every DMK heavyweight from the rest of the 233-Assembly constituencies will camp there and will ensure that the cash-for-vote strategy works.
They feel that repoll would only aid the parties to concentrate on that segment alone and ensure that more cash reaches voters.
The distribution of cash has also demonstrated the fact that very many electorates had accepted the money given by political parties. So awareness camp about saying no to money had not yielded the desired result.
Hence, they feel that a more stringent measure that would have an impact on the parties concerned may help in protecting the democratic principles.
Thus when the Election Commission of India is planning to emulate the Tamil Nadu model elsewhere in the country, it should also take into account this rampant scourge of bribing of voters.
It is apparent that the ruling DMK had distributed money to the electorate in exchange for their votes. Several incriminating documents had been seized from the cadre and functionaries of the political parties.
Soon after the elections were announced, the District Election Office had formed several monitoring committees to ensure that the elections are conducted in free and fair manner.
The committees in collaboration with the police were able to seize money and other incriminating documents.
However, the political parties came out with novel ideas to reach the people and deliver the money meant for their votes.
Though, the Collector took adequate measures to bring awareness among the electorate in Madurai as not to entertain money for their votes, the end result of the campaign is low as people have failed to realise that they are wreaking havoc on democracy.