Just a day away from the Assembly polls, not one or two but three videos have surfaced on the massive last-minute cash for votes run happening across constituencies.
In one, PMK leader Balu, contesting from Ulundurpet, picks up notes from a bag and flings them at a returning officer, lambasting him for not taking action over a complaint.
“The complaint is here, you do anything. Let anyone win. But you are not answering us clearly,” he says.
A police officer intervenes halfway when Balu turns to him and tells him to go find those in the spot who are distributing cash instead of interrupting him. He promptly leaves.
Police said they could not arrive at the spot when the complaint was given.
“I am looking to win. I am not doing all this to win a seat in the Assembly. But what kind of an election is this? When are you going to stop this? If this is how you are going to conduct elections, this is an election without a conscience. This does not need a commission or an official then. Is this a people’s government? People distribute in every city, village, street. I am a High Court lawyer. Am I an idiot? To canvass door-to-door while these people distribute from house to house. What answer do you have to this detailed complaint? What action have you taken?”
Balu spoke to The News Minute and said he along with 12 others had lodged a complaint against the AIADMK earlier but there was no action. “We then saw DMK doing it as well, and we decided enough is enough and filed the second complaint. There is no pretense even, they come in their white dhotis and shirts and distribute 500 rupee notes in broad daylight. When the police are called, they never pick up, or say they can’t come to the spot. We are tired of this,” he said alleging, “I have clear proof that staff working for the returning officer have also accepted the cash."
Another video of AIADMK's Avadi candidate Ma Foi Pandiarajan's face on party pamphlet with 500 rupee notes being folded in to them has surfaced. In the video, workers are handing pamphlets with Jayalalithaa and Pandiarajan's face on them and money is being folded in and put into a bag, presumably for distribution. The authenticity of the video could not be verified by TNM.
In Panruti assembly constituency, workers have been caught on camera bribing voters at night, as reported by NDTV. The going-rate as heard in the video is Rs 1,000 for every vote.
Watch video: http://www.ndtv.com/elections/video/player/news/caught-on-camera-the-going-rate-for-a-vote-in-tamil-nadu/415909
In the video, a group of men, one of them with cash in hand, is seen coming out of a house. After giving the money, one of them is heard saying, "vote for two leaves" -- the party symbol of ruling AIADMK. The authenticity of the video could not be verified by TNM.
AIADMK was quick to blame the DMK, and the DMK has denied the allegations.