TN cash seizures is key point in EC review

The ruling party submitted a petition to Lavasa and Chandra urging them to constitute a special committee to look into the alleged poll malpractices by DMK leader Duraimurugan and his son Kathir Anand contesting from Vellore constituency.  ‘The EC should probe the I-T raid cash seizures and freeze all the bank accounts and bank lockers of DMK treasurer Duraimurugan and Kathir Anand,’ the petition said.

Meanwhile, the principal Opposition party DMK urged the EC to advise the I-T Department to be ‘impartial, unbiased and act in accordance with law during election process.’

“To help the candidates of the BJP and AIADMK and to further the prospects of their election, it appears that some central agencies like the I-T Department are being abused and misused to target and harass candidates belonging to the DMK and other alliance parties candidates,” DMK organising secretary RS Bharati stated in the petition.

According to Public Election Department sources, further action in this regard is to be taken by the Chief Election Commissioner Sunil Arora, who had cancelled his scheduled visit to TN in the last minute.

Among the other concerns raised, most TN parties have urged the Commission to hold  by-elections to the four vacant Assembly seats that were excluded from the schedule announced earlier.

 A communique from the Public Election Department said apart from reviewing poll preparedness, the EC delegation also conducted a review with district election officers, commissioners of police, SPs. Chief electoral officer Satyabrata Sahoo, city Police Commissioner AK Viswanathan also participated in the meeting.