There were several midnights knocks with a nefarious purpose. Under the watchful but resigned eyes of EC flying squads and several battalions of CISF and CRPF personnel, money changed hands – under the cover of darkness, in narrow alleyways, on trawlers moored in the Kasimedu harbour and even during rendezvous at tourist spots during the day.
On Monday all about cash bribes that voters got from a few political parties – one distributing ?10,000, another ?6,000 and yet another ?5,000.
A voter in the constituency privy to the ways of bribing by parties said money distribution was brisk the day before (Saturday) from 11 am to 3 pm in many areas across the constituency. In some places, it was at night time and in some others at crack of dawn. In Kasimedu, several of the 35,000 or so fisherfolk hit jackpot. Families with four or five members made a killing. “I hear that in some cases, two parties gave Rs 10,000 and Rs 6,000 to each of the members,” said trawler driver R Ramadoss against a backdrop of a neat row of anchored boats in Kasimedu. He admitted that party visited his home with its six voters.
On Ramasamy Street, distribution of Rs 6000 was brisk. “My family of three members got Rs 18,000,” said Shekar. In nearby Muthumariamman Koil Street, residents kept awake the whole night after rumours spread that a party would be distributing Rs 10,000 to each voter, said Shekar. To beat the EC’s hawk eye, distribution of money took place in Beach station and Anna memorial and Kannagi statue along the Marina beachfront in the city as well, said, residents.
But not everyone is happy yet. Lakshmi of Corporation Colony, Tondairpet is furious. Hopping on to a motorbike ridden by a relative, she shouted at some party volunteers: “I have four voters in my family. I got money in the last two elections. Why should I miss it this time? Am I getting it or not?” The embarrassed volunteer, a woman, tried to shush her as the furious man riding the bike whisked her away.
Some are happy, some angry and some others hopeful. At Ammini Amman Thottam in the constituency, an old lady walks up to a group animatedly discussing the reluctance of party managers to distribute cash in their colony and says, “Has the money come yet?”
A few yards away, a woman asked another female resident why she hadn’t repaid the loan as promised on December 10 now that she had collected Rs 6,000 from a political party. At a narrow lane in MGR Nagar that has been walled at one end, and providing a perfect cover, a young woman held out a list of residents gathered around her. They spoke in hushed tones and quickly scattered.
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