PMK youth wing leader Anbumani Ramadoss on Sunday said he would write to all Members of Parliament about the ‘cash for vote’ culture in Tamil Nadu and seek amendments to The Representation of the People Act, 1951, to prevent the ‘culture’ from spreading to other States.
Addressing a press conference at his residence here, Dr. Anbumani said he was planning to meet Chief Election Commissioner Nasim Zaidi on Monday and take up the issue with him and also the audit of paper trails on EVMs.
He would also take up the issue with the Parliamentary Standing Committee and seek amendments to the RP Act to ensure free and fair elections in the future.
“The Election Commission should have the authority to disqualify parties and candidates found bribing voters. If a party has distributed money to voters, it should be derecognised and debarred from contesting elections. The party symbol should be withdrawn. The candidate should also be debarred from contesting elections for the next 10 years,” Dr. Anbumani said.
The Chief Electoral Officer should not be from the State cadre nor be a domicile in the State where elections are held.
Dr. Anbumani also said freebies should not be funded through the tax paid by the public.
Exorbitant school fees
In a separate statement, PMK founder S. Ramadoss urged the State government to take steps to check if the State board, Matriculation and Anglo-Indian schools were charging exorbitant fees. Action should be taken against those institutions found doing so. He welcomed the CBSE’s advisory and warning to schools on arbitrary hiking of fees and asked the State government to enforce the same in other schools as well.
He says it is aimed at preventing the spread of ‘cash-for-vote culture’ to other States
