The Election Commission is learnt to have prepared a recommendation in this regard to be sent to the president.
Nearly a week after a large sum of cash was allegedly seized from a DMK candidate's office in Vellore a few days ago, the Election Commission is mulling to cancel the polling in the Tamil Nadu seat over excess use of money power, sources aware of the development said Monday.
The Election Commission is learnt to have prepared a recommendation in this regard to be sent to the president, PTI reported.
"It would be sent today itself," an official said on Monday.
Since the president signs the notification for Lok Sabha elections, it is he who rescinds it.
The decision came after a large sum of cash was allegedly seized from the DMK candidate's office a few days ago.
The district police had filed a complaint against DMK candidate Kathir Anand as well as two party functionaries on the basis of a report from the Income Tax department on April 10. Anand is the son of senior party leader Durai Murugan.
He has been booked under the Representation of People Act for giving "wrong information" in his election affidavit filed along with his nomination papers, police said. The police has booked two others - identified as Srinivasan and Damodaran - for bribery.
Police said FIR has been filed against two others, identified as Srinivasan and Damodaran, on "bribery" charges under the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
Polling in Vellore Lok Sabha constituency is scheduled for held on April 18, the second phase of Lok Sabha election 2019, along with 38 other Lok Sabha seats in Tamil Nadu. The key contenders in Vellore in 2019 are AIADMK’s AC Shanmugam, DMK’s DM Kathir Anan and BSP’s E Karunanithi.
I-T sleuths had on March 30 conducted searches at the premises owned by Durai Murugan in this district over suspected use of unaccounted money for electioneering and seized Rs 10.50 lakh of alleged "excess" cash.
Two days later, the I-T officials said they had seized Rs 11.53 crore from a cement godown belonging to a DMK leader's associate in the same district.
Searches were conducted at Durai Murugan's residence, where some printouts with ward numbers written over them had been found, but the "main person", indicating the assessee, had dismissed them as "junk", I-T officials had said.
While a sum of Rs 19 lakh was found during the raid, Rs 10.50 lakh was seized as "excess" after allowing the cash declared in the election affidavit of Anand, they said.
Durai Murugan had then said, "We did not conceal anything," adding that all his family members were income tax assessees.
He alleged the raids were a 'conspiracy' by some political leaders who could not face them in the electoral arena and also questioned the timing of the searches in the midst of a full-fledged election campaign.
(With PTI inputs)
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