TENKASI: Amid a lack of monitoring, candidates filing nominations for the rural local body elections in Tenkasi district are arriving with entourages of at least a few hundred people. Not just that — to ensure their ‘supporters’ stay until the procedure is complete, they are also going the extra mile by distributing money, food, and liquor.
“Who will accompany the candidates if money and liquor are not given?” asked S Anthony, an independent candidate from Vadiyur village, who brought about 210 villagers in seven vans and a few cars to the Block Development Officer’s (BDO) office in Alangulam to ‘accompany’ him in filing nomination papers. “I gave Rs 200 to each of them apart from a meal, tea, vadai, and liquor,” he added.
Anthony is to contest for the post of panchayat union council member (councillor). “I just spent about an hour with the candidate,” says a woman from Vadiyur, who came with her husband as part of Anthony’s entourage.
“I won’t earn this much money if I sit at home and roll beedis for a whole day,” the woman added. Similarly, Anna Murugan, who filed his papers to contest for the post of village panchayat president in Keezha Veeranam village of Alangulam union, brought over 1,000 people with him. A resident of the village, who was part of the group, said they were given Rs 500 each to accompany Murugan.
Observers, videographers nowhere to be seen
"We reached here in about 48 vans, a few cars, and two-wheelers. As there were several people, many youth had to travel on the footboard of the vans," he said. Alangulam police stopped most of these vans on the outskirts of the town, for fear of a possible traffic jam on the Tirunelveli-Tenkasi highway, and allowed only a limited number of people.
None of the expenditure observers or videographers were present at the BDO office to record the nomination-filing process. An official from the Rural Development Department claimed even the flying squad has not been on patrol for the past few days due to various problems.
TNIE tried contacting Collector S Gopala Sundararaj but he did not respond. Muthu Elangovan, PA (Elections) to the Collector, said the observers and videographers will be posted at the offices across the district soon. "Since Tenkasi is a newly-created district, we face some difficulties. It will be solved one by one. The flying squad has begun patrolling from Friday. We will take action against candidates involved in irregularities," he added.