The Election Commission of India in Tamil Nadu has announced the seizure of over Rs 3 crore in poll-related raids in the Vellore Parliamentary constituency. On Monday, the state's Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo announced that in addition to Rs 3.44 crores in cash, gold has also been seized. This comes after polling in Vellore was cancelled in April this year over cash-for-votes after homes of DMK leaders in the constituency were raided.
Polling will take place on August 5, Monday, in Vellore. AIADMK’s alliance partner and Puthiya Neethi Katchi chief AC Shanmugam is facing off against DMK’s Kathir Anand, who is also the son of senior DMK leader Durai Murugan.
The EC has restricted the publication and dissemination of opinion poll/exit poll results between 7 am and 6: 30 pm on the day of polling. “The Election Commission of India has further clarified that under Section 126(1)(b) of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, displaying any election matter including results of any opinion poll or any other poll survey, in any electronic media, would be prohibited during the period of 48 hours ending with the hour fixed for conclusion of poll for the aforesaid election,” the CEO said in a statement.
The elections to Vellore Lok Sabha seat, which were supposed to take place in the second phase of 2019 General elections on April 18, was cancelled just two days before the state went to polls. Multiple reports from the Director General of Income Tax (Investigation), the Election Commission and other authorities, on the search and seizure in a cement godown in Vellore ultimately had led to polls being cancelled. The move brought Tamil Nadu into national notoriety for the polls to the Parliamentary constituency became the first in the country to be cancelled on account of cash-for-votes.
It may also be recalled that Tamil Nadu was consistently ranked the highest in cash seizures across the country during the General Elections this year.