As the high-pitch campaigning for the May 16 Assembly elections in Tamil Nadu came to a close on Saturday evening, the silence, thereafter, was unmistakable. The seizure of a whopping Rs570 crore — just a couple of days ahead of polling — from three container lorries near Tirupur by the flying squads deputed by the Election Commission of India continued to create a flutter all over the State till late night.
EC officials initially maintained the huge stash of currency was “prima facie suspect”. However, Rajesh lakhoni, chief electoral officer, Tamil Nadu, told reporters later on that SBI officials have claimed that the money belonged to the bank and it was on its way from Tamil Nadu to Andhra Pradesh. “The issue will be resolved by Sunday evening and a probe is on,” he said.
Ramesh Babu, zonal manager, SBI, Coimbatore, also clarified that the money belonged to the Reserve Bank of India and the SBI was transporting it to its branches in Andhra Pradesh. Speaking to reporters on Saturday evening, Babu said all documents would be furnished before the ECI.
Earlier though there was much drama. District administration officials in Tirupur said the three lorries did not heed the instruction of the flying squads to stop and sped away. The ECI team chased the trucks and took the vehicles and drivers into custody.
The plainclothesmen accompanying the trucks as security guards told the ECI squad that the entire money belonged to SBI’s Coimbatore Zonal Office and it was on its way to Andhra Pradesh for distributing to branches in Visakhapatanam. But they did not have all the necessary documents.
With a record of over Rs 100 crore having been already seized by the ECI’s flying squads since the Model Code of Conduct came into effect following the declaration of the election, the whopping cash surely did add to the anxiety of one and all. And agencies like the Income Tax Department got into the action mode.
But ECI officials heaved a sigh of relief that the 45-day-long high-pitch campaign ended on a peaceful note without any major incidence of violence.
Political observers in Tamil Nadu, nevertheless, rate the 2016 Assembly elections campaign a low-key affair compared to the past elections in the State. “The long campaign wore out the party workers. The important point is that the two prominent players in the election, Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi did not travel much this time. This resulted in the cancellation of many street corner meetings, a unique feature in Tamil Nadu,” Dr Sumant Raman, medical doctor-turned-political commentator told The Pioneer.
Other than M K Stalin of the DMK and Anbumani Ramadoss of the PMK, no senior leaders hit the roads this time. In earlier elections, both Jayalalithaa and Karunanidhi used to travel extensively in the State and address even street corner meetings. This time they restricted their campaigns to district and regional headquarters.
Television was effectively used by all the main characters in the play. Ramadoss stood out for his unique style of campaign, whose adverts looked like high pitch sales promos.
On the last day of campaigning, 93-year-old chief of the DMK, M Karunanidhi, made a passionate plea to the people of Tamil Nadu to defeat the AIADMK by recalling his midnight arrest in 2001. His voice, already slurred because of the advanced age, choking with emotions, Karunanidhi said, “Even today I do not know why I was arrested in the night 15 years ago. Jayalalithaa was having her personal vendetta against me. You, the people of Tamil Nadu should teach the AIADMK and its leader Jayalalithaa a lesson so that such things do not happen in future.”
His third wife Rajathi Ammal looked on with tears-filled eyes. The DMK patriarch too was seen breaking down in the course of his speech which earned him a good lot of sympathy.
Though Karunanidhi was forced to cancel his campaign programmes in Thiruvarur from where he is seeking re-election due to physical problems, the DMK chief is reported to have insisted that he should address a meeting at Chintadripet, a Chennai suburb, with which he has sentimental relations dating back to 60 years.
Jayalalithaa, the AIADMK leader, spent the entire Saturday at Veda Nilayam, her residence in Chennai’s Poes Garden. The election campaign and the May 16 poll did not prevent her from dismissing two senior functionaries of the AIADMK for anti-party activities. She also wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi asking him to take up with the Sri lankan Government the island nation’s move to build a church at Kachachatheevu islet.
Elsewhere in Tamil Nadu, M K Stalin continued his tirade against Jayalalithaa while Anbumani Ramadoss reminded the electorate about his youthfulness and energy to work for the State. The PWF convener Vaiko, who spots a green headgear along with the black shawl, reportedly as per astrological guidance pleaded with the voters to elect Vijayakanth as the Chief Minister of the State.
A senior DMK leader told The Pioneer that there was no visible anger among the voters towards Jayalalithaa. “How to make them vote for us is a major issue troubling us,” said the leader and that could sum up the campaign for the 2016 assembly election.