RK Nagar by-polls: Only the people will decide who the real Amma party is
Four months after the death of J Jayalalithaa the race to claim her legacy is on, and it's the RK Nagar by-election that will decide who (between the two warring AIADMK factions) will be the real inheritor.
Even though the AIADMK no longer enjoys the same clout following Amma's death, the two factions — AIADMK (Amma) and AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) are trying their best to rewrite history.
The stakes are high for the two camps as both claim to be the "real" AIADMK. And with the Edappadi Palanisami government managing to win the trust vote in the state Assembly, this will be the first time after the "partition" of AIADMK that the voters will have a say in the matter.
The DMK too is eyeing the seat even though RK Nagar traditionally has been an AIADMK pocket borough. The opposition party last won from here in 1996.
As many as 62 contenders have entered the April 12 fight for the seat. With the election day nearing, a closer look at the affidavits filed by the 62 candidates show a fight among "heavyweights".
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Interestingly, the affidavits show there are nine crorepati candidates, but the details submitted to the Election Commission include "undervalued" properties.
"There is a guideline value of properties determined by the government. In the case of TTV Dinakaran, who has declared his house in the popular Adayar locality, it is seen that his property as per the government guideline value will be worth Rs 5.26 crore. However, it's market value will be Rs 13.98 crore. But the value shown in his affidavit is Rs 1.13 crore," said Jayaram Venkatesan, convener, Arappor Iyakkam, a non-government organisation.
Almost all prominent candidates have been found to have undervalued their assets as has been claimed by electoral reforms group, Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Arappor Iyakkam.
"AIADMK (Puratchi Thalaivi Amma) candidate Madhusudanan, DMK candidate N Marudhuganesh too have undervalued their assets," added Jayaram.
“In the affidavit, Dinakaran has not declared his overseas assets that were there under the FERA scanner. The Madras High Court confirmed the order of the FERA board imposing a penalty of Rs 28 crore,” added Jayaraman.
While the analysis of 57 of the 62 candidates were done based on the affidavits submitted to the Election Commission, it was found that 70 per cent of the candidates did not declare their income tax.
The discrepancies which have been found by the two agencies will be submitted as a formal complaint on April 6.
“We don’t expect an immediate removal of the candidature but then the elected MLA will be made accountable. This is about transparency in the democracy,” said Sudarshan Padmanabhan, professor IIT, and a member of ADR.
While the candidates have been accused of undervaluing their assets, eyebrows have also been raised over the role of the returning officer.
"This is a very important piece of information for the voters who will choose their next MLA. They should know what sort of leadership can be expected from such leaders," said Deepa, an analyst and member of ADR.
With just a week to go for the D-Day, the incessant buzz around RK by-election has actually made it one of the most bitterly contested seats across the country in recent times.