The amount of money and gift hampers distributed, as well as the new innovative way of confining voters in locked camps and keeping them inside for the entire day, discovered by DMK minister Senthil Balaji, has caused the famous ‘Thirumangalam formula,’ founded by another DMK veteran MK Alagiri, to bow its head in shame.
A few days ago, Tamil Nadu BJP chief K. Annamalai has written a complaint to the Chief Election Commissioner of India regarding the distribution of widespread money for the Erode East by-election and “inaction” by the state election commission on a complaint regarding “blatant abuse of power by DMK govt” in the Erode East by-poll.
He alleged that the DMK members distributed 2 kgs of meat and ₹1000 per voter per day, with a ₹5000 incentive if the voter sat continuously in the designated place for 20 days.
In addition to the BJP, the AIADMK has petitioned the Madras High Court, requesting that the Election Commission take appropriate action to ensure a free and fair election in the Erode East constituency. Despite the opposition parties’ complaints, the distribution of money and gift hampers has not stopped, but has increased as the election approaches.
Despite videos of DMK cadres distributing money and gift hampers going viral on social media, there has been no concrete action taken.
Political analyst Savukku Shankar claims that as the election dates near, the DMK has increased the cash for votes from ₹2000 per day to ₹8000 per vote.
In addition to ₹8000 per vote, DMK cadres distributed 1 kg of meat, groceries, ₹1000 per head, and biryani on a daily basis with a focus on the poor and lower middle class in the constituency. These lower middle class and poor residents of Erode East seat are primarily from the Arundathiyar community, who were regarded as the AIADMK’s primary voter base. DMK has therefore been spending money like there is no tomorrow in the constituency to win the support of the Arundhathiyar community.
Erode Formula
Opposition parties claim that, in addition to distributing cash for votes, voters in the Erode East Assembly constituency have been confined to camps by DMK men who serve them food and give them cash every day for not attending the opposition AIADMK candidate’s election campaign.
According to reports, recently released movies such as Varisu and Thunivu were screened using projectors to keep people engaged inside the camp. Apart from film screenings, Tamil folk dances such as ‘Karagattam’ were performed inside the camp. According to political analyst Savukku Shankar, one of the Karagattam shows inside the camp was abruptly stopped by the ladies inside the camp because the show became very obscene. These images of ‘Karagattam’ inside the DMK camp have gone viral on social media.
“The ruling DMK men have erected shamianas at all booths and confined the voters who are served food and given cash daily. The Election Commission of India should take immediate steps to remove the shamianas and free the voters,” AIADMK former State Minister C Ve Shanmugam said. While the ruling DMK men met voters and garnered votes, the AIADMK were not allowed to canvass, he said.
Videos of DMK cadres distributing cookers in Erode East constituency have gone viral on social media since the morning (February 20).
In one viral video, a lady who received a cooker from the DMK said, “We got two cookers, one for myself and one for my brother-in-law. My neighbour who received the cooker had the 84th token. Now they(DMK) have gone this way. They are giving one cooker per house. I did not go to get the cooker. My husband got it for me. This is a small size cooker. They asked us to vote for congress symbol (Kai chinnam).” Another elderly lady standing nearby expressed her disappointment that the DMK did not provide tokens for both their daughter and granddaughter, despite their request.
Savukku Shankar shared videos of the DMK distributing cookers from the home of a local leader named Kumarasamy, which is located opposite the Sengodampalayam Shakti Nagar tennis court in Erode East constituency.
He also shared visuals of the DMK leader’s stock room, where the cooker meant for voters was kept.
Images of tokens intended for voters given by the DMK to collect cookers were shared on social media
Opposition parties also claimed that in order to prevent people from meeting the ADMK candidate, DMK leaders took Arunthathiyar, who are daily workers, on a tour of Mettur Dam and fed them near camps in the dam. They claimed that 18 to 20 buses are used on a trip that takes people from the housing board in the early morning and returns them to their homes late at night. The visuals of voters from Erode East constituency being taken into a bus by DMK cadres for a trip to Mettur have gone viral on social media.
It is worth noting that Tamil Nadu BJP president Annamalai shared a video of DMK Minister KN Nehru and Congress candidate EVKS Elangovan discussing the distribution of money and gifts to voters, which was accidentally picked up by a mic in a public meeting.
On 11 February 2023, Election Officer H Krishnanunni stated that election officials and police personnel seized tokens from the car of DMK South Union Treasurer Sarbudeen in Tirupur district after receiving information about the distribution of money at night through tokens during the election campaign.
The DMK, led by MK Stalin with his trusted lieutenant Minister Senthil Balaji has taken corruption and election malpractice to a new extreme.
Not only has the stakes gone up in this by-election. The cost of politics itself has gone up because of this high-stake election with voters being lured with money power.
The Erode East by-election will go down in the electoral history of independent India as the election which shot up the cost of politics to a new high.
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How Communist CM Pinarayi Vijayan Is Living A Bourgeoisie Life On Public Money
Kerala is going through a bleak phase aggravated by worsening social and financial conditions. The debt level of the state stands at record levels and the state is also witnessing stagnation in human development indices due to lack of investments in this sector. Turning to a pure consumeristic state without any major industries or agricultural activities, the state heavily relays on taxes on alcohol and petroleum products. But the ruling dispensation of Kerala seems unbothered. Like feudalistic landlords munching on the resources of poor serves, the Communist party is exploiting the common man of the state. While the state is suffering, the CM and his entourage is indulging in lavish wastage of public resources.
The Extravagant Foreign Trips
Pinarayi Vijayan had taken 19 foreign trips after assuming the office of the Chief Minister till 2023. But among these only details of 5 of them are available. As per the sources, ₹32.58 lakh was spent on his official trips to UAE in 2016, USA in 2018, Japan in 2019 and two trips to USA in 2022 for medical treatment. Expenditure on the other 14 trips is not revealed yet. In all together the Chief Minister and the Ministers of Kerala have made 85 foreign trips over the past 6.5 years of LDF governance.
Of these, while CM Vijayan tops the list with 15 foreign visits, Kadakampally Surendran is the second with 13 and E P Jayarajan third with 7 foreign visits. The CM and team travelled in Europe for 3 days each in Netherlands and Switzerland, and a day each in France and UK, in May 2019. The CM visited UAE 6 times. M Sivasankar, former principal secretary to the CM, had actively joined all these trips, leading to later controversies and allegations. M Sivasankar is currently under scanner regarding gold smuggling and corruption allegations during the time he worked as personnel secretary to CM. The CM visited the USA for 4 times. Other foreign places the CM visited include Bahrain, Japan and South Korea.
It is not about his visits in official capacity that has raised eyebrows but his visits in personal capacity and footing the bill on public. There is a writ petition pending in High Court that has put these trips under the scanner. The petitioner, in his writ petition, alleged the Vijayan had, for his trips which were ‘personal’ in nature – These trips were to USA and UAE in different time periods. The CM’s trips had also attracted criticism as his family members also were along with him-using money from public funds. Last year, Pinarayi visited several European countries with his wife, daughter and grandson. There were also criticisms over on a foreign trip amidst the state’s acute financial crunch. But the foreign trip saga of Pinarayi Vijayan is only tip of the iceberg of wastage of public money undertaken by CM and his entourage.
The Never-Ending Convoy And Security Cover
Last year the government bought a dozen new vehicles for use of CM and other ministers. The exchequer has already spent ₹4 crore on these purchases despite a blanket ban on purchase of new vehicles owing to financial crisis. CM tops the list in the purchase of new vehicles. Recently, the finance department had approved ₹88.7 lakh for buying a Kia Carnival (8AT Limousine plus 7) car and three Innova Crysta cars for CM’s use. The saga of never-ending convoy is aggravated by the fact that heightened security cover is provided to the CM which is largely hurting the common man. It is not only the purchases which hurts the public but also the heightened security. It is uncertain why the CM scares the public so much that he boosted his security. The boosted security is comparable to what India provides to visiting heads of states. The boosted security has resulted in violation of basic human rights, like the cops recently taking a man into preventive custody, leaving him with no means to take his mother for a cancer examination. School children stuck in traffic, cancer patient stranded and ban on buying medicines etc has become a common incident in Kerala.
Public Money For Political Purposes
Kerala Governor Arif Mohammad Khan had come out against the Communist Party of India (Marxist)-led Left Democratic Front government’s anti- Citizenship (Amendment) Act [CAA] advertisement on the front page of national dailies and said spending public money for political campaigning is “thoroughly undesirable.” “…public money is being used to campaign against a law which has been passed by Parliament. Sounds a bit strange to me.,” he stated at that time. The Kerala government had published in three national dailies that the State had taken “bold initiatives to address the apprehensions of the public” and had stayed the National Population Register drive that could lead to the NRC (National Register of Citizens). The State government had on August 7, 2017 published an advertisement in the national capital that the State had one of the lowest crime rates in the country, to counter a campaign by the Bharatiya Janata Party and the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh against the CPI(M) in Kerala over political killings. The usage of public money for political purpose by the communist government is an unethical act considering vulnerable financial position of the state of Kerala.
Immoral Spending Spree Amidst Financial Crunch
Kerala is in an extremely bad financial situation. The debt of Kerala government has climbed to almost ₹4,00,000 crore and small Kerala has surpassed most of the Indian states in this debt situation. The Debt/GDP ratio is at 37% and is worsening dad by dad. The recent budget unveiled by Kerala also points to this bleak and precarious financial situation of the state. The steep hike in taxes including that on petrol, diesel and alcohol has hit the common man where it hurts the most. The state of Kerala and the ruling communist dispensation seems like an episode straight out of black mirror. In an Orwellian manner the government is running an ‘animal farm’ feasting on the resources of the common man. The Kerala is staring at bleak times ahead due to its precarious financial situation, the spending spree by CM amidst this only points to unethical model of governance which is harmful to citizens.
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