Alleging distribution of money and liquor to voters in the last leg of electioneering here, CPI Pondy secretary R Viswanathan on Friday urged the Chief Election Commissioner V Sampath to order an enquiry into it.
In a complaint to the Chief Election Commissioner, he alleged that major parties such as the Congress, All-India N R Congress, AIADMK and DMK were involved after switching off power in the urban constituencies after 6 pm in the last 10 days of the elections .
Lauding the initiatives taken by the EC to ensure a free and fair poll, Viswanathan however, said there was slackness on the part of election observers, expenditure observers, election officers in their vigil on the last leg of the election campaign and about `50 crore was distributed by the four major parties.
Even though, the CPI activists made complaints to the toll-free numbers 1950 and 1800-425-4151 about the distribution of money and liquor, no action was initiated. On April 22 and 23, the toll-free numbers were either dead or ‘jammed’ or gone unattended, he said . The police and election officers were aware of this and they turned their back to this, he said.
He said an inquiry to find the extent of liquor sales that took place between the election period as compared to the same period last year would reveal the flow of liquor. The circulation of money as compared to the same time last year would also reveal the cash flow .