The Big Story: Electoral corruption

On April 9, just hours before the campaign for the Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar bye-poll in Tamil Nadu was to end, the Election Commission of India chose to countermand the election. The commission said that the ruling All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (Amma) faction, led by V K Sasikala, had tried to bribe voters with crores of rupees in cash.

The seat had fallen vacant with the death of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa in December. After her demise, the AIADMK split into two faction – one led her aide Sasikala and the other by rebel leader and former Chief Minister O Panneerselvam.

The Election Commission’s order on April 9, quoting the Income Tax department, named Health Minister C Vijaya Baskar as the main coordinator of the cash-for-votes operation. In searches on April 7 at 32 places connected to the minister, the income tax department said it had recovered documents suggesting that about Rs 89 crores may have been mobilised for distribution. According to the documents, each voter was being given Rs 4,000. Senior AIADMK (Amma) ministers were made responsible for distributingthe cash in specific wards. The party is even alleged to have prepared a list of voters with their political preferences marked, though it has denied all these charges.

While the commission made the right decision to countermanded the bye-poll, its follow-up has left much to be desired.

Despite the documents and other evidence recovered in the income tax searches, no cases have been registered against either the minister or the top leadership of the AIADMK (Amma). Vijaya Baskar continues to be the health minister. Instead, cases have been registered against some low-level functionaries of the party, whose role at the most could have been implementing the orders of their bosses.

Last year, the commission rescinded polls in two constituencies in Tamil Nadu – Aravakurichi and Thanjavur. The same sort of complaints emerged then. But citing its own restrictions, the Election Commission refused to act on candidates who were responsible for the tainted actions. The same set of candidates contested again when the election was held in October.

This time, the commission has appealed to the leadership of the AIADMK (Amma) to use its moral force to clamp down on those indulging in electoral malpractices. The candidate in RK Nagar was TTV Dinakaran, the nephew of Sasikala, who for all practical reasons, is the leadership. The Election Commission is quoting the scripture to the devil.

The RK Nagar situation could be a litmus test for the credibility of the commission. Unless it acts against prominent leaders like Vijaya Baskar and Dinakaran, people’s trust on the independence of the commission could be under risk.

Perhaps it’s also time for Parliament to decisively amend the Representation of Peoples Act to provide for candidates who bribe voters to be disqualified.

The Big Scroll

  • Vinita Govindarajan reports on how cash ruled the campaign in Dr Radhakrishnan Nagar.

Punditry

  1. On the centenary of the Russian revolution, renowned Marxist theoretician Tariq Ali talks about 10 must-read books on the historic events of 1917.  
  2. In the Indian Express, noted historian Christopher Jaffrelot writes on how the Bharatiya Janata Party is increasingly resembling the Congress.
  3. Kirit Parikh in The Hindu explains how a robust electricity trade could boost the sagging Indo-Nepal relations. 

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