The Left parties on Thursday accused the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam (TVK) of distributing money to voters in two Tamil Nadu Assembly constituencies where bypolls are scheduled for October 6, and demanded that the Election Commission take action.
“Regarding the assembly by-elections, I went to Madurantakam yesterday. Yesterday, when we visited several villages in Madurantakam, we were distributing pamphlets detailing why the Left parties are contesting and why people should vote for us. On DMK spokesperson TKS Elangovan’s statement that the party would support a resolution in Parliament seeking the CEC’s removal, despite not attending an INDIA bloc meeting on Wednesday, Shanmugam welcomed the announcement.
The CPI(M) is contesting in Madurantakam, while the Communist Party of India (CPI) is contesting in Dharapuram. Everyone knows that the Marxist Communist Party is contesting in Madurantakam and the Communist Party of India is contesting in Dharapuram. “However, reports are coming from the field that others are distributing money to voters on a massive scale.
The two Left parties, which won two Assembly seats in the April 23 elections, provide outside support to the TVK government.
P Shanmugam, state secretary of the Communist Party of India (Marxist), said the Commission must take note of the allegations and seek answers from the political parties concerned. But, people in some villages told us that everyone else is distributing money while we are giving only pamphlets,” he said. Shanmugam said villagers told him that the ruling TVK was distributing the highest amount among all parties. He said the Left parties had told voters that their strength lay in struggles and party principles, and that neither the CPI nor the CPI(M) would buy votes by distributing money. The Election Commission must take action on this, and the concerned leaders of such political parties must answer,” Shanmugam said.
It is nothing like that. The point is that the Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam will never give money for votes. Votes are only for the face of our Thalapathy (chief minister C Joseph Vijay).”
Responding to the allegations, TVK national spokesperson and advocate M Sathya Kumar said, “This is just a mere allegation.
