44 complaints filed by ECI against TN political parties

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has filed 44 complaints against Tamil Nadu’s political parties recording various electoral offences until Wednesday. Chief Electoral Officer of Tamil Nadu Satyabrata Sahoo disclosed the details in a press meet on Thursday, where he also spoke about the number of nominations that have been accepted by the ECI.

“Till now 44 cases under Representation of People Act, section 171 (Wearing garb or carrying token used by public servant with fraudulent intent) of the IPC and Motor Vehicle Act have been filed by the ECI,” he said. Of the 44 cases, 10 cases have been filed against the DMK, nine cases against the AIADMK, three cases against PMK, two cases against BJP and 17 cases against independent candidates.

Nominations filed

The last date for filing nominations for the Parliamentary Elections and the bye-polls in Tamil Nadu ended on March 26. The ECI had allotted March 27 for the scrutiny of the affidavits and the last date for withdrawal of nominations is March 29.

Speaking to the media on Thursday, Satyabrata Sahoo said a total of 1,587 nominations were filed across 39 constituencies in Tamil Nadu. Of the 1,587, 932 nominations have been considered valid and accepted and 655 nominations have been rejected by the ECI.

While Karur parliamentary constituency saw the highest number of accepted nominations at 43, Nilgiris saw the lowest number of accepted candidates at 10.

Similarly, the ECI received 518 nominations for the bye-polls to 18 Assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu, which is also scheduled to be held on April 18. Of the 518, the ECI has accepted 305 nominations as valid and rejected 213 nominations.

Perambur Assembly constituency saw the highest number of accepted candidates with 51 while only eight candidates were accepted from Gudiyatham, making it the least.

Cash and jewellery seizure

The CEO also said that Rs 50.7 crore cash has been seized across Tamil Nadu after the Model Code of Conduct came into effect and jewellery worth more than Rs 69 crore has been seized by the officials till Wednesday. Seized gold jewellery accounted for 223.5 kilograms and silver jewellery weighed 346.7 kilograms.

Recent news reports also stated that Tamil Nadu topped the list of seizures of money, alcohol and jewellery made in the run up to the elections, followed by Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.