CHENNAI: Hours after announcing the election to the Vellore Lok Sabha seat would not be held, the Election Commission of India issued a detailed notification explaining what had led to the decision.
The ECI said it had received a preliminary report dated March 30, 2019 from the Nodal Officer of Election Expenditure Monitoring of the Income Tax Department. According to this, Rs 10.57 lakh of “unexplained” cash was seized from the residence of DMK treasurer Durai Murugan, father of DMK’s Vellore candidate DM Kathir Anand. Subsequently, on April 5, the commission received a report from Director General, Income Tax, which said searches had unearthed cash of Rs 11.48 crore on the premises of Damodaran, brother-in-law of DMK functionary Poonjolai Srinivasan. The department found the money had come from the cash chest of Canara Bank, Vellore.
Officials said the cash had been given at the behest of M Dayanidhi, Senior Manager at Canara Bank Regional Office, Vellore. Dayanidhi admitted to having facilitated the exchange of currency for Srinivasan, the ECI said. The report from DGI-T said the unpackaged portion of the cash and unused labels seized clearly indicated the candidate was making preparations to cover all target voters in the constituency.
The ECI said it considered Kathir Anand’s representation. It said TN Chief Electoral Officer filed a report on April 12 citing the cash seizures and stating free and fair elections could not be held for Vellore LS seat at the juncture. “It is apparent... that inducement and allurements to electors by the candidate, political party and their associates by distribution of money has been going on at a large scale and in a clandestine manner, vitiating the purity of the electoral process and disturbing the level playing field in Vellore Parliamentary Constituency,” the ECI said, noting that it frowned at acts of bribery during elections.