ECI dossier exposes cash-for-votes in Tamil Nadu

Chennai: A confidential report prepared by the public election department for the Election Commission of India is to reveal that milk men, newspaper boys and goondas were used by politicians to distribute cash for votes in the recently held Assembly polls. Though party men are usually used for distributing cash-for-votes in large numbers, 691 complaints relate this time to envelopes without any names on them with cash inside being distributed among voters, besides 22 complaints of newspaper boys giving cash have been received, a top official told Deccan Chronicle.

In case of newspaper boys and milkmen, 34 complaints were received, of which 29 cases have been accepted for further action. There were also cases in which goondas were involved in cash distribution. Of the 36 complaints received in this category, 29 were booked with police registering FIRs. The network put in place by the EC received 5,825 complaints of party men distributing cash for votes, of which 5,463 were accepted. Police action after registering an FIR has been taken in 90 percent of the serious complaints and about 60 cases are pending in this regard, the official said. To a query on other modes of freebie distribution, the official clarified that in 146 cases people with votes have accepted gifts and another 34 accepted tokens from politicians.