The election to the Vellore constituency was cancelled on Tuesday evening over a cash seizure during a raid on a DMK member, the first time that an election has been rescinded in any Lok Sabha seat on this ground.
The cancellation, which came at the close of campaigning in Tamil Nadu for the election on Thursday, is a setback to the DMK-led Opposition alliance that is believed to have an edge in these elections.
DMK treasurer Duraimurugan’s son Kathir Anand is contesting from Vellore, seen as a safe seat for the alliance.
President Ram Nath Kovind accepted the Election Commission’s recommendation, made on Monday night, to rescind the election citing cash seizures.
A raid was conducted on Kathir’s house in Vellore on March 29. A raid on the home of a relative of a DMK functionary on April 1 yielded Rs 11.48 crore, the poll panel said.
It said the cash was “packed in plastic packets with ward-wise details” and added that DMK functionary Poonjolai Srinivasan claimed ownership of the cash and said it was “meant to influence voters in favour of DMK’s candidate”.
The DMK has denied the allegations.
On Tuesday evening, an income-tax raid was conducted on the home of DMK MP Kanimozhi, who is also the sister of party chief M.K. Stalin.
Stalin said the raids were an outcome of “fear of a damning defeat” for the BJP’s candidate, Tamilisai Soundararajan, in Tuticorin. “This is murder of democracy,” he said.
On Tuesday evening, an EC flying squad raided an office of T.T.V. Dhinakaran’s Amma Makkal Munnetra Kazhagam in Andipatti. The Andipatti segment, formerly represented by Jayalalithaa, in Theni parliamentary seat will have a bypoll. Police sources said they fired four rounds in the air when they faced violent obstruction by AMMK workers. Around Rs 50 lakh has been found, they said.
Assembly elections and Rajya Sabha polls have been countermanded for unfair practices, but not a Lok Sabha poll in recent memory. It was unclear if the cash seizure from Vellore is the highest-ever from a Lok Sabha seat.