#Elections2019: Here’s why no one in Tamil Nadu is shocked about Vellore

The 48 hours leading up to polling day is called the silence period by the Election Commission. In Tamil Nadu, it’s anything but.

If the dramatic 24 hours leading up to polling day on April 18 are any indication, Tamil Nadu has once again proved its dubious stature and reputation when it comes to the cash-for-votes machinery. Last night, the President cancelled elections in Vellore after the Election Commission seized over ₹11 crore meant for bribing voters. About 450 km away in Andipatti in Theni district, ₹1.48 crore was found unaccounted. Meanwhile, Income Tax sleuths landed up at Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam candidate MK Kanimozhi’s house in Thoothukudi for a raid—only to return empty-handed.

But this isn’t out of the ordinary for Tamil Nadu, it’s the new normal when it comes to elections in the state.

In Vellore, the story began on March 30, when the Income Tax department and the EC launched a detailed investigation on “money power”. On that day, the EC recovered ₹19.57 lakh, of which ₹10.57 lakh was unaccounted for. Further investigations exposed a systematic machinery of the cash-for-votes paradigm in the state, and a stunning degree of preparedness by the DMK.

Cash amounting to a total of ₹11.48 crore was found, neatly packed, labeled and ready to be distributed. As detailed by a notification from the Union Ministry of Law and Justice, the cash was found in bags sealed in plastic packets on which computer-generated labels were pasted. The labels detailed the names of the Assembly segments in the parliamentary constituency of Vellore, the name and number of blocks and wards, the total number of voters, and amounts—at the rate of ₹200 per vote. Most of the currency was in denominations of ₹200, and the notification observed that the total amount of cash in each plastic packet tallied with its respective label.

The notification added that ₹99 lakh in denominations of ₹2,000 and ₹500 was found unpacked. “Apart from ₹2.8 Crores, in the denomination of ₹200, found in cartons, the rest of the amount, approximately ₹7.68 Crores was packed and ready for distribution.”

The result is that Vellore is the first Lok Sabha seat to be “countermanded for the abuse of money power”.

Andipatti, in comparison, pales. Even as events regarding Vellore unfolded last night, Income Tax officials found ₹1.48 crore of unaccounted cash from an office belonging to new entrant: the Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam. It’s a party headed by TTV Dinakaran, the nephew of Sasikala who was J Jayalalithaa’s best friend and loyal aide. Ninety-four packets of cash were found, with ward numbers and the number of voters. The packets also had markings that indicated that each voter would get a bribe of ₹300.

Addressing reporters on Wednesday, Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo said a total of ₹3.16 crore was seized on Tuesday, April 16, alone in Tamil Nadu. Coimbatore led the pack with EC officials seizing ₹1.41 crore. It wasn’t only cash—the EC additionally seized ₹43.54 lakh worth of liquor, ₹37.68 lakh of drugs, 1,022 kg of gold and 645 kg of silver. The total value of these precious metals is ₹294.38 crore.

Sahoo said: “So far, we have made cash seizures worth ₹138.57 crore.” Sahoo specified that this didn’t include the cash seized by the Income Tax department in Andipatti, Theni. The Income Tax department alone has seized cash of ₹56.55 crore so far, since the elections began.

Sahoo was also asked why only the residences of those in the Opposition were raided and no one from the governing party. Yesterday, the DMK candidate for Vellore, DM Kathir Anand, shot off a letter to the EC accusing it of favouring the BJP-AIADMK alliance. He wrote: “The raids were stage managed by the ruling party to get a bogus report from the IT department, which acted judge, jury and executioner … the entire move appears to be politically motivated and appears that the Election Commission of India is toeing in line with ruling BJP party to help the BJP-AIADMK combine candidates (sic).”

He added that he would be “constrained to initiate appropriate action before the constitutional court, including claiming damages thereby holding you liable for all costs and consequences arising there from”.

Chief Electoral Officer Sahoo, however, said at the press interaction: “We have registered more than 4,500 FIRs so far. Yesterday also we received some video allegations against the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam. That was also sent to the collector. We will certainly take action against every petition we receive.”

The video allegation that Sahoo is perhaps referring to is a viral clip of Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami slipping cash to a woman in Salem. Palaniswami later clarified he was simply paying the woman for bananas he had bought from her.

Of the ₹2,600-odd crore of cash, gold, silver, drugs, alcohol and other freebies that the EC has seized across the country till April 16, 2019, Tamil Nadu accounts for nearly 20 percent or ₹510.76 crore. Of this amount, ₹204.77 is in cash—and Tamil Nadu leads the country with these numbers. Andhra Pradesh comes a distant second with ₹137.07 crore seized in cash, followed by Telangana with ₹68.82 crore seized in cash.

The data also reveals that Tamil Nadu clearly prefers cash and gold for its votes. In terms of precious metals, the EC seized 1,667 kg in the state, valued at ₹294.38 crore. The second highest state is Uttar Pradesh with officials seizing 600.79 kg of precious metals valued at ₹68.69 crores.

It should be noted that the state which edged out Tamil Nadu with the highest value of seizures is Gujarat, where EC officials seized cash and other goods to the tune of ₹543.38 crore.

A former government official who did not want to be named said seizures are just the tip of the iceberg. “The distribution machinery deployed by political parties is right down to the street level. No government agency can match that.”

This election season, having experience in the cash-for-votes paradigm in the state, the EC doubled the number of expenditure observers in the state. Normally only one per parliamentary constituency is deployed. This year, carrying out “due diligence based on previous experience”, two expenditure observers have been deployed per parliamentary constituency. That’s 78 expenditure observers deployed across Tamil Nadu’s 39 parliamentary constituencies.

But receiving money and maybe also a quarter of alcohol and a packet of chicken biryani isn’t unusual in the state. In the 2016 state Assembly elections, the EC postponed the voting dates for two constituencies: Tanjore and Aravkurichi. In 2017, the commission also twice countermanded bypolls in the legislative assembly of RK Nagar due to cash for votes.

It’s an ugly story with a long history, and no one’s surprised.