Voters in HR and CE Minister’s village get 25 kg rice

DT Next had highlighted the fact that supervision of local body polls – conducted by the State Election Commission - was not as stringent as in the State Assembly or Parliament elections which are overseen by the Central Election Commission.

This had resulted in reports surfacing that ruling party candidates were handing out saris, lamps, rice and a kilo of chicken at Vada Puzhudur village in Thurinjapuram panchayat union in Tiruvannamalai district. Delivery was based on tokens issued beforehand.

At Sevoor, the native village of HR&CE Minister Sevoor S Ramachandran, voters after polling were given a token each based on which they went to a nearby rice mill from where they picked up the 25 kg rice bags. As a spectator commented, “It was funny to see some carrying two bags in their two wheelers while others carried their bounty as headloads. In fact, an old woman who was unable to lift the bag rolled it for some distance till she was helped by another ‘beneficiary.’”

The gift was said to be the joint work of ruling party candidates Deepa Sampath, Anandan and Gowri Radhakrishnan contesting for the village panchayat president, panchayat union ward member and district panchayat ward member posts respectively.

When word reached SP MR Sibi Chakravarthy, he rushed to the spot but by then distribution was over and the rice mill was closed. When police quizzed locals as to whether they had received the largesse, the villagers replied in the negative.