CHENNAI: The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday informed the Madras High Court that the enquiry into the incidents of attempt to bribe voters by the candidates of AIADMK and DMK in the Aravakurichi and Thanjavur Assembly constituencies, which led to the cancellation of May 2016 elections to the constituencies, would be concluded in three months.
Recording the submission, the First Bench of Chief Justice S K Kaul and Justice R. Mahadevan said, “The aforesaid should be more than sufficient time to conclude the enquiry and the result should be placed before us in a sealed cover.”
The issue pertains to three separate PILs moved seeking to hold an enquiry under section 10 A (disqualification for failure to lodge account of election expenses) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 against the candidates of AIADMK and DMK for the Aravakurichi and Thanjavur Assembly constituencies where elections were cancelled following seizure of huge money.
The petitioners wanted the court to restrain the ECI from receiving nomination papers from four candidates of the AIADMK and DMK in view of their “proved corrupt practices”. When the plea came up, one of the petitioners who wanted the ECI to recover the money expended for poll process said, “At least the ECI may file an affidavit setting forth the amount expended towards these two constituencies so that the amount is quantified and later on, it may be debated whether it can be recovered from the candidates or not.