CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) petition praying for the court to issue directions to prevent bribing of voters in the run-up to the Tamil Nadu Assembly elections. The petition was filed by a Madurai-based activist, K K Ramesh.
The first division bench of Chief Justice Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and Justice G Arul Murugan observed that measures are already in place for checking distribution of cash, gifts or other things to influence voters.
Advocate General P S Raman submitted that the government has taken various steps to assist the Election Commission of India (ECI) for keeping a tab on bribing of voters.
Stating that the poll monitoring teams have been in the field to prevent such practice, he noted that such teams are not even sparing the vehicle of the chief minister. Advocate Niranjan Rajagopalan, representing the ECI, told the court that 2,169 flying squads and 2,166 static surveillance teams have been pressed into service across the state to crack down on voter bribing.
The petitioner stated that corruption and cash-for-votes have been practised for the past few years in all the elections in the state. He stated that Rs 250 to Rs 10,000 was distributed to each voter during the 2021 Assembly elections.
Stating that candidates belonging to major political parties spend about Rs 5 crore to Rs 10 crore in their constituencies to attract voters and submit false and fabricated accounts to ECI, he noted that polling in Thanjavur and Aravakurichi constituencies had to be deferred in 2021 elections due to complaints of voter bribing.
He prayed for the court to issue directions to the ECI and other respondents to take measures necessary to prevent illegal distribution of gifts, cash and other inducements to the electors.