Actor Kamal Haasan on Thursday said that the RK Nagar bye-poll, which sacked All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazagham leader TTV Dinakaran won, was a “stain on democracy”, PTI reported. In his weekly column for Tamil magazine Ananda Vikatan, Haasan claimed the bye-election had been won by money power. The constituency was held by former Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa before she died in 2016.

“I won’t call this purchased win even a scam. It is a daylight crime,” Haasan said. The actor alleged that both the independent candidate (Dinakaran) and the ruling party (the AIADMK) “fixed rates” for voters.

Referring to the people of RK Nagar, Haasan said, “You have been sold out”.

Dinakaran hit back at the actor for his remarks, saying that Haasan’s claims had “hurt and insulted” the voters of RK Nagar. “This [the allegations] doesn’t befit his age and experience,” Dinakaran added. “Under the garb of attacking the winner, he is attacking the people, who are mainly from poorer sections, saying they voted for money”.

The deposed AIADMK leader denied bribing voters. “Politics is not some scripted movie where one can mouth dialogues written by someone else,” Dinakaran said. “Can such people [like Haasan] survive in politics?”

Dinakaran added that the AIADMK faction led by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister E Palaniswami and Deputy Chief Minister O Panneerselvam would have won the bye-election if money was involved.