POLL BUZZ
Notice to SEC on poll date change

15.03.2019

Hearing a plea, the Madurai bench of the Madras high court directed the Tamil Nadu State Election Commission (SEC) to file a counter on how it would manage to conduct elections in Madurai Lok Sabha constituency during Chithirai Festival. The judges said they were not convinced with the SEC’s stand that there was no possibility to change the date. On a separate plea, the court prohibited parties from using banners, flex boards and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) cut-outs as they pose health risks.

No animals in poll campaigns

The Election Commission of India (ECI) has advised political parties not to use animals while campaigning. In its ‘Manual on Model Code of Conduct’ (MCC), it says: “Election Commission has advised political parties and candidates to refrain from using any animal for campaign. Even a party with reserved symbol depicting an animal, should not make live demonstration of that animal”. The MCC also states “display of animals in road shows is totally banned”.

Action sought against official for puja in office

Action has been sought against commissioner of the welfare of differently abled B Maheswari, for renovating her office as per vasthu and performing pujas violating the model code of conduct which came to effect on Sunday. S Namburajan, general secretary of Tamil Nadu Association for the Rights of All Types of Differently-Abled and Caregivers, on Thursday submitted a complaint to state CEO Satyabrata Sahoo. He charged that the officer spent ₹10 lakh to renovate her office.

MNM calls for bypoll applicants

Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) invited aspirants keen to contest in the bypolls to avail applications from the party’s Chennai and Pollachi offices from Thursday. Forms can also be downloaded from www.maiam.com and have to be submitted along with a demand draft for ₹10,000 in favour of MNM by March 16.

Officers get poll briefing

Ahead of the Lok Sabha and assembly elections, the Election Commission organized the first briefing for observers to be deployed in the poll-going states. Over 1,800 senior officers drawn from IAS, IPS, IRS and a few other central service ranks attended the briefing. The ECI launched ‘Observer App’, for observers to submit reports securely to the ECI.

SIGN OF SUPPORT:Porters from Central railway station on Thursday visited the DMK headquarters to show their support for the party in the coming Lok Sabha polls. DMK president M K Stalin interacted with them and posed for photos in front of the statues of DMK leaders Anna and Karunanidhi

Flying squads seize more than ₹13cr cash in four days

40% Poll Code Violation Cases In 2014 Ended In Conviction

B.Sivakumar@timesgroup.com

Chennai:15.03.2019

Election surveillance teams have seized ₹13.35 crore in form of cash, cheques and promissory notes in the last four days from across the state after the model code of conduct came into force on Sunday.

In the latest incident, flying squad officials in Trichy recovered 192 signed cheques worth ₹8.76 crore and two promissory notes worth ₹1.2 crore from a SUV in Srirangam assembly constituency late on Thursday.

“Any person who carries ₹50,000 or more in cash is being questioned. People carrying proper papers to show the source of money are allowed to go. If they fail to explain the source of money, it is seized,” said state chief electoral officer Satyabrata Sahoo. In case of seizure of ₹10 lakh or more from a person, the information is immediately passed on to the income tax department, he said. Income tax department has appointed joint director Murali Mohan as the nodal officer for handling election-related work.

Sahoo said a three-member committee would be formed in each district to avoid causing inconvenience to genuine businessmen carrying cash. The committee shall look into all cases of cash seizures as per the standard operating procedure and take immediate steps to release the money to those who produce proper documents, he said.

While static surveillance teams have taken positions on major roads from the date of notification, the teams would be strengthened in the last 72 hours before the polls, particularly in expenditure sensitive pockets, the CEO said. If credible information was available, the teams could check any premises including transport hubs, residences and offices, he said. The income tax investigation wing has opened a separate control room with a tollfree number — 1800425666 — to check transportation and distribution of cash and other valuables.

Various agencies in Tamil Nadu had seized ₹18.31 crore in cash during the 2014 Lok Sabha elections and ₹54 crore during the 2016 assembly elections.

The conviction rate in pollrelated cases in 2014 was more than 40% in Tamil Nadu, said an election department official. In the 2014 polls, 3,746 cases were registered, of which 2,907 were charge-sheeted and 1,548 convicted. In the southern districts, 1,856 FIRs were registered and Ramanathapuram led the list with 398 cases.

Of the 6,616 FIRs registered in the 2016 elections, 2010 cases (30%) resulted in convictions.

“Most cases were against cadres involved in defacing walls, distribution of cash or influencing voters near polling booths. There were very few cases involving senior leaders,” said a senior election department official.

Gvoernment of Puducherry Admission Notification 2019-20

Pollachi colleges declare holiday as students protest

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Pollachi/Tirupur:15.03.2019

Several private colleges in Pollachi declared a holiday on Thursday to quell student unrest as the protests demanding action against in the sexual harassment case accused threatened to snowball into a major agitation.

Pollachi town came under a thick security blanket as policemen were deployed at all vantage points to prevent students and public from protesting. Police said more than 350 of their personnel were deployed in major junctions. Police teams led by two ADSPs and six DSPs maintained strict vigil in public places as well as in the vicinity of colleges. The action by police and college authorities comes a day after more than 1,000 students from various colleges staged protests. Though the police managed to ensure that none of the students protested in Pollachi, college students from Coimbatore and Tirupur staged protests.

An police officer said law and order was maintained in Pollachi and there were minor protests in some places by some outfits.

College authorities are yet to take a call on whether the institutions would function on Friday. The managements are likely to decide if classes would be conducted on Friday based on inputs from the police in the morning.

Caution Notice on the tradeemark of AJI-NO-MOTO;

Former AIADMK councillor held for abetting suicide

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:15.02.2019

A former councillor of the AIADMK was arrested on Wednesday for allegedly abetting the suicide of a woman in Kancheepuram.

The woman had fallen in love with Sriharan who had promised to marry her. Later, he refused to marry her and informed his relatives and the former councillor, identified as Kannan, to settle the issue. Kannan had gone to her house on March 11, abused her and asked her to stay away from Sriharan, following which the woman ended her life on Tuesday.

Her family members alleged that the woman committed suicide because of Kannan’s abuse. He allegedly named her caste and said she was not fit to marry Sriharan. Kannan and Sriharan belonged to the same caste.

Police said Sriharan, a resident of Varadharaja Perumal Koil Mada Street in Kancheepuram, is employed at a private agency in Kancheepuram. The duo had been dating for the past two years. They broke up after Sriharan refused to marry her.

The girl’s father, Adi Kesavan, of Singaperumal Koil Street in Kancheepuram, filed a complaint with the Vishnu Kanchi police. Kannan was produced before a magistrate court in Kancheepuram and was sent to prison.

The woman had fallen in love with Sriharan who had promised to marry her. Later, he refused to marry her and asked former councillor Kannan to settle the issue

Ex-DMK min’s son gets 7-yr RI for money laundering

TIMES NEWS NETWORK

Chennai:15.03.2019

The XII additional sessions court for CBI cases in the city on Wednesday sentenced late DMK leader and state minister Ko Si Mani’s son Mani Anbazhagan to seven years rigorous imprisonment in a money laundering case. The court imposed a fine of ₹1 crore on him. He will have to undergo an additional year of rigorous imprisonment if he fails to pay the fine.

The case was investigated by Enforcement Directorate’s zone-II in Chennai, headed by joint director P Manikkavel IRS. The investigation to conviction took around 18 months. This is the first conviction in southern India, sources said.

Mani Anbazhagan was involved in international hawala transactions amounting to $11,267,521 (₹75.50 crore) through seven different current accounts at Indian Bank’s Thousand Lights branch under the names of different business entities.

The investigation was initiated based on an intelligence input received from the Chennai seaport Customs in October 2016, ED said in a statement on Thursday. It was a herculean task for the ED to establish a link between the fake entities and the actual operator, Mani Anbazhagan, to make a case of international hawala transactions.

The ED put several hawala operators under surveillance, which lead to searching their residential premises, after identifying those involved in the scam. A case was registered in April 2017. The charges were filed in the special court (PMLA) in October 2017.

The account holder, who acted as a lender under an assumed name, was arrested on April 3, 2017 and Mani Anbazhagan, who actually operated the account, was arrested on August 7, 2017. Both of them filed various petitions before higher judicial forums, either to get bail or to quash the charges. All superior courts, considering the gravity of the case, not only refused bail but also gave a direction to complete the trial in a time-bound manner.

The modus operandi adopted by the hawala operator was that after opening the bank account, without revealing the real identity and involvement, submit the forged import documents and project it before the bank as if it were payments for genuine imports already made. All these foreign exchanges were sent to Hong Kong to undisclosed beneficiaries and for undisclosed enduse. The hawala operator transferred the foreign exchange outside the country (Hong Kong), without making any corresponding imports into India.

The Central Crime Branch (CCB), Chennai, also registered a case in the related matter and are investigating it for forgery and cheating under sections 420 and 471 of the Indian Penal Code. The CCB investigation is under progress.


Late DMK leader and state minister Ko Si Mani’s son Mani Anbazhagan was involved in international hawala transactions amounting to ₹75.50 crore through seven different current accounts at Indian Bank’s Thousand Lights branch