The bazaar before the ballot: cash-for-votes charges cloud Tamil Nadu's bypoll eve

Dharapuram/Chennai: The silence period ahead of Tuesday's bypolls in Madurantakam and Dharapuram has not silenced the allegations. On Saturday, the AIADMK petitioned the Election Commission of India seeking an urgent probe into alleged cash distribution to voters in both constituencies, naming the ruling Tamilaga Vettri Kazhagam as the alleged beneficiary. Rajya Sabha MP and AIADMK advocate's wing secretary I.S. Inbadurai, in a complaint addressed to Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar and Tamil Nadu's Chief Electoral Officer, cited media reports from September 22 alleging that cash was distributed to electors at Rettipalayam in the Acharapakkam union of Madurantakam to induce votes for the TVK's candidate Maragatham Kumaravel. Beyond that specific locality, the complaint alleged that "similar unlawful cash distributions and voter inducements" were being carried out systematically across both constituencies. It urged field-level inquiries, preservation of CCTV and broadcast evidence, registration of FIRs, and intensified surveillance by flying squads and static surveillance teams. Separately in Dharapuram, Naam Tamilar Katchi candidate Karthika produced what she called photographic evidence of the alleged distribution. Addressing reporters after visiting the election office on Saturday, Karthika alleged that TVK workers were handing voters tiffin boxes along with Rs 6,000 in cash, silver coins and a "Victory Cup" trophy. She showed photographs from her mobile phone to back the claim, and complained that the Returning Officer had not been present when she first arrived with the complaint and that officials had not responded to phone calls reporting such incidents. Her party also questioned the removal of an NTK banner ahead of the Chief Minister's visit, accusing officials of bias. Campaigning for both bypolls ends at 5 pm on Sunday, October 5, with polling on October 6 and counting on October 9. Both seats are witnessing five-cornered contests. In Dharapuram, the TVK has fielded P. Sathyabama against the DMK's S. Sukanya, the AIADMK, the NTK's Karthika and others; in Madurantakam, the TVK's Maragatham Kumaravel, the former AIADMK MLA whose resignation and switch to the TVK necessitated the bypoll, faces the AIADMK among others. AIADMK general secretary Edappadi K. Palaniswami has called the Madurantakam bypoll a product of "horse-trading", urging voters to "teach a lesson" to those who forgot the people who elected them. Chief Minister C. Joseph Vijay, who has been camping in Dharapuram and drove a tractor in a show of farmer connect, has described the TVK as a "pure force" - a claim the opposition is now weaponising against him on the eve of polling. The Election Commission is yet to announce the outcome of its scrutiny of these complaints. With the silence period now in force, the flying squads and static surveillance teams the AIADMK demanded are the last line of defence for a mandate that must be earned at the ballot, not bought before it.