Seizures Aplenty, But Follow-Up Measures Found Wanting

Without permanent officers of its own, EC depends on State.govt. to pursue bribery cases.

- Dennis S. Jesudasan

Though Tamil Nadu continues to retain the top spot in the seizure of unaccounted cash and valuables in the run­up to the April 18 Lok Sabha election, what stands in sharp contrast is the failure to take cases of voter bribery to their logical con­clusion.

Though the practice of bribing voters has been prevalent for the past many decades, it assumed alarming proportions since the infamous ‘Thiruman­galam formula’ was used to bribe voters during the first de­cade of this millennium. The expertise with which cash was distributed to voters through milkmen and newspaper deliv­ery boys, apart from party cadre, has since been mastered by parties in subsequent elections, especially during by­ polls. It peaked during the by­ poll to the R.K. Nagar constituency in 2017.