RK Nagar campaign ends dirty

The campaigning for the contentious RK Nagar Assembly seat, vacated by late Tamil Nadu chief J Jayalalithaa, came to an end on Tuesday evening, amid allegations of free-flowing money and freebies to voters. The bypolls are scheduled to be held on December 21.

Even as there are 59 candidates in the fray for the crucial bypoll, the major front-runners are AIADMK's E Madhusudhanan, DMK's N Marudhu Ganesh and sidelined AIADMK leader TTV Dinakaran, who is contesting as an independent candidate.

To ensure a smooth election, the Election Commission of India has deployed nine observers, the highest ever for an election in one Assembly constituency. However, despite heightened security and monitoring, allegations of distribution of money and freebies for voters were flung back and forth.

On Sunday, DMK working president MK Stalin wrote to the ECI, alleging that the ruling AIADMK distributed over Rs 100 crore to the voters and asked the commission to ensure free and fair election. The AIADMK on its part accused the DMK of bribing voters and complained against Dinakaran that he was distributing free pressure cookers — his symbol — to the voters.

The flying squads have also seized around Rs 30 lakh from several people during the campaign. The police have arrested as many as 20 persons in connection to the money distribution to voters.

Although the poll was first scheduled to be held in April this year, it was cancelled due to complaints of large-scale voter bribing by a candidate.

The crucial bypoll is considered to be a litmus test for the ruling AIADMK, which underwent a split and then a patch-up within the last year. The victory in the bypoll would help the 11-month-old Edappadi K Palaniswami government to claim Jayalalithaa's political legacy.