Parties shoot down novel idea by deputy EC in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: A novel idea aimed to arrest cash for votes mooted by the deputy election commissioner during his visit to Chennai last week was thwarted by political parties in the state.. According to ECI sources, Umesh Sinha, deputy election commissioner, wanted to form energetic flying squads comprising political functionaries with paramilitary forces. The idea was to rope in party men from the ruling AIADMK, opposition DMK, national and other regional parties to be part of flying squads and identify those who give cash and gifts to voters. "None of the elected representatives and senior politicians of TN agreed to this. They feared that the presence of their party men in the squads will earn the wrath of voters awaiting cash and gifts. The idea was scrapped, but political parties are now complaining about the free flow of cash in RK Nagar," said a senior official who attended the high-level meeting called by Election commission.

The top official also explained that by roping in local party men it will be easy for the flying squads to reach the spot in short notice and also identify those distributing cash for votes. The election commissioner also told the political party representatives not to worry about the safety as the squads will comprise local police, armed paramilitary force, revenue officials and a videographer, but none of the party representatives were positive about the idea, the official said.

Meanwhile, a few central government officials earlier intimated about poll duty approached the office of the chief electoral officer and district election officer seeking exemption from poll duty. However, their pleas were turned down. Earlier in the day Chennai district election officer D. Karthikeyan and city police commissioner Karan Singha conducted a meeting at the Ripon Buildings to discuss about the dispatch of government staff on poll duty through a computerised randomization process.