Candidate’s hubby on the run after ‘cheating’ voters with fake gold

Shocked to learn that the gold coin that the husband of a local body poll candidate gave in return for votes was just a yellow metal disk, nearly 1,000 voters in Ambur are now hunting for the man who has gone absconding.

After ward 36 of the local body was allotted to ally Congress, Duraipandian, a DMK functionary, fielded his wife Manimegalai as an independent. Though the party asked him to withdraw her from the election, he claimed that she was out of town and thus Manimegalai remained as one of the five candidates in fray.

On February 18 night, just hours before polling was to start, Duraipandian allegedly visited voters’ house and handed over one gram gold coins, asking them to take a pledge before the picture of a god that they would vote for his wife. Happy that they were getting a gold coin, many reportedly obliged.

But when Duraipandian told them to wait for three days for the poll fever to die down before selling the gold coin, some of them grew suspicious. They took the coin to pawn brokers in the area who checked and said it was not real gold coins.

Enraged by this, some of them said even if Manimegalai wins the election, they would not accept it and would demand repoll. However, understandably, no complaints have been lodged with poll officials or police till date. The aggrieved locals are now searching for Duraipandian who has vanished.