DMK petitions Governor seeking fresh Vote of Confidence

The opposition DMK on Saturday petitioned Tamil Nadu Governor C. Vidyasagar Rao to order a fresh Vote of Confidence in the state assembly and order a probe by agencies under the Prevention of Corruption Act.

Led by DMK Working President M.K. Stalin, several senior leaders of the principal opposition party met Rao and submitted a representation to him in the wake of a media sting in which an AIADMK legislator allegedly states that lawmakers were offered gold and large sums of money to vote in favour of Chief Minister K. Palaniswami during the confidence vote.

Stressing that the faith on democratic institutions like the assembly would be shaken by the media revelations, the DMK urged Rao's immediate intervention and put forth three demands -- order for a fresh vote of confidence; direct an impartial investigation by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) into the offences of Prevention of Corruption Act, 1988, and direct an investigation by the Directorate of Revenue Intelligence or the Enforcement Directorate to unearth the money trail and to investigate the offences under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act.

The representation signed by Stalin states: "Only such an effective intervention, at the earliest, by the Governor will save democracy from being in the hands of a government whose Chief Minister has been elected under dubious circumstances and won the constitutionally mandated vote of confidence by dishonest means."

Citing the media sting, the DMK said AIADMK legislator S.S. Saravanan has spoken about the ruling party's lawmakers being offered substantial amounts of money - starting from Rs 2 crore and going up to Rs 6 crore- and gold to influence their voting during the vote of confidence.

According to the petition, the legislators - Karunas, Thameemum Ansari and Thaniarasu - were offered Rs 10 crore to secure their votes.

"We state, therefore, that the video recordings of the sting operation telecast constitutes material evidence, which has a significant bearing on the validity of proceedings of the Vote of Confidence" conducted on 18th of February, 2017," the DMK representation said. - IANS