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Parties offer ‘tickets’ to voters
Even as the Election Commission is tightening all the screws to crush money power in this election, ingenuous methods are being used by poll managers with the latest one being in the route of train ticket cancellation refunds and ‘purchase against receipts’
Chennai
With incidents of Dravidian parties distributing cash for votes emerging from various parts of the state, voters in the city as well as many rural areas are now getting train tickets booked in their names by the party functionaries instead of cash.
Since the functionaries incharge of ward or branch committee have details of all the voters in their area, this method is not complicated as it sounds.
“All the necessary details needed for booking train tickets such as name, age and sex are available in the voters list, which is in their possession,” social activist G Sundarrajan told DT Next and added that the ‘beneficiaries’ can get cash in the form of cancellation refunds.
According to a source, party workers involved in this are finding it convenient as identification proof is not needed for train ticket bookings in general category. Moreover, since the voters produce tickets over the counter for their own cancellations, there won’t be any problem even if the railway authorities ask voters (passengers) to produce an ID card.
“Since the Election Commission has imposed restrictions on carrying cash, the party functionaries are adopting tactics such as this, issuing coupons for getting petrol among others,” he said.
Admitting that there are not much restrictions in train ticket bookings and cancellations in general category, Southern Railway officials pointed out that this modus operandi cannot be ruled out. “Due to the summer holiday season, there is spurt in bookings and cancellations and so it is difficult to single out such bookings,” the railway spokesperson told this newspaper.
Another interesting invention this election by the parties is the ‘purchase against receipts’ concept, where the political parties transfer fund to the provision stores in the locality.
In return, political functionaries get receipts for Rs 500 or Rs 1000 from the provision stores and issue them to the voters. “The voters can do the purchase against such receipts,” Sundarrajan said and added that this is prevalent in many parts of the city.
In the backdrop of the Election Commission imposing further restrictions by ordering the functionaries from outside to leave the constituency after 6 pm on Saturday, the ‘party workers’ are now racing against time.
As the campaign for the May 16 election comes to a close on Saturday and all vehicle permits issued to parties for campaign will become null and void, it is reliably learnt that the astute party workers have gone aggressive in fulfilling their duty entrusted to them before the deadline.
‘Politricks’ used by functionaries
- Railway tickets booked in the name of voters, which can be cancelled to get ‘refunds’
- Organising ‘family functions’ to distribute freebies in the form of gold, utilities, etc
- Coupons issued to voters for getting petrol or other groceries.
- ‘Purchase against receipts’ to help ‘beneficiaries’ purchase provisions by providing receipts.
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