Last laugh for TN panchayat bidders

There was excitement, loud cheering and fireworks near the Arulanandar college in Karmathur, near Madurai...

There was excitement, loud cheering and fireworks near the Arulanandar college in Karmathur, near Madurai, during counting of votes for the local body posts falling within the Chellampatty Union. Villagers swarmed around the college gates ignoring police orders to keep a distance. They were cheering for Kanda Thevar Bose, who successfully bid for the post of Ayyanarkulam panchayat president with a handsome offer of Rs 6,01,001. He had just announced his election victory.

Bose would have contested the post unopposed, avoiding the nail-biting contest, if district authorities had not played spoil sport, cracking down on the bidders and threatening those participating in the auctions with the Goondas Act. The local CPIM unit had persuaded a relative of Bose, Senthanman Kittappan, to contest and Pakiyam, a rich widow from Ayyanarkulam village, also plucked up courage to file her nominations. But when results were finally announced, Bose had scraped through with 50 votes more than his nearest rival Packiyam.

8220;Clearly, villagers of Ayyanarkulam and A Andipatty had not dared to go against the village diktat to vote for Bose,8221; pointed out a crestfallen Senthanmann, who had trailed way behind his rivals with a mere 75 votes. In fact, when The Indian Express visited A Andipatty soon after the auction on September 26, a few villagers claimed that hectic negotiations were on to decide how the two of the eight villages, falling within the Ayyanarkulam panchayat, would share Bose8217;s bid amount. The two villages had a bulk of the 1,600 votes in the panchayat.

In nearby Pottulapatty Panchayat too, where V Ravichandran, a lawyer, had dared to contest, risking ostracism, S K P Amaithi, said to have successfully bid for the president8217;s post with his offer of Rs 2,10,000, won the election with 325 votes. Ravichandran managed 150 votes. Amaithi had denied he had been a part of the 8216;underground8217; auction. But former Panchayat president, Mani Selvam, accused the village committee of violating democratic norms and slyly holding the auction, passing the word around that those who dared to contest against Amaithi or failed to vote for him would be ostracized.

In nearby Rasakkapatty, falling within the Usillampatti Union, Lakshmanan was taught a fitting lesson for his defiance. 8220;Mayandi Thevar had successfully bid for the Panchayat president8217;s post with an offer to build a temple with Rs two lakh. The village committee had issued an order to all the villagers that they should vote for him,8221; said M Thangaraj, the CPIM president of the neighbouring Chellampatty Union. Thevar won with 900 votes. Only 78 villagers dared to vote for Lakshmanan.

Despite the crack down by district authorities across Tamil Nadu, brisk biddings took place for the various panchayat posts in Erode, Dharmapuri, Vellore, Namakkal, Vizhupuram, Theni and Thanjavur districts. Even a few arrests in Erode and Dharmapuri districts did not deter villagers, intent on cashing in on the polls.

On October 24, C Somasundaram won a bid for the Panchayat president8217;s post in Karandipalayam in Erode district with his best offer of Rs 1,10,000. Police swooped down on the bidders and arrested Somasundaram and six others who bid for other posts. Somasundaram had taken part in the bidding to win the post for his niece, Karpagamani. In the elections declared today, Karpagamani was declared winner, polling 330 votes.

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The CPIM backed G Gomathi, the only other candidate who dared to break the auction. But Gomathi lost by 36 votes.

In one case, according to S Loganathan of Thirumalaipatty, in Namakkal district, a Panchayat president8217;s post was bid for Rs 18 lakhs. 8220;The Namakkal district collector, G Sundaramurthy, ordered his staff to go around the village with the tandoora drums to announce that he would book those participating in auctions under the Goondas Act. The person who successfully bid for the post got cold feet and did not even contest,8217;8217; said Loganathan.