‘Anti-Democratic, Will Fight These Forces’: Kanimozhi on I-T Raids

After the income tax raids on her residence on Tuesday evening, senior DMK leader and party chief Stalin’s sister, Kanimozhi, who is the party’s candidate from Thoothukudi, said that she would not be perturbed by the attempts to harass her.

“I feel they are conducting searches because I am the candidate of the Opposition. The EC officials accepted that there is no cash or documents in my house,” she told ANI.

“Like everyone is saying, the I-T and Election Commission are working with Modi to scare and work against the opposition parties,” she added.

She further alleged that BJP state (Tamil Nadu) President Tamilisai Soundararajan has “parked several crores of rupees in her residence,” and questioned if the EC would conduct a search at her residence as well.

Kanimozhi added that the BJP had turned their focus to Thoothukudi because they were afraid of losing there.

“I think they (ruling party) have stopped elections in Vellore wrongly. The same way, with the fear of losing, they have come to stop elections here,” she told ANI.

Alleging that every government agency including the RBI, the CBI and the ED have been exploited, Kanimozhi said that only the Opposition leaders have been targeted repeatedly.

After conducting the search, the Election Commission officials had accepted that the information they received based on a complaint was false.

Kanimozhi is contesting against BJP’s Tamilisai Soundararajan in Thoothukudi.

‘Found Nothing’: I-T Officials

The I-T department, along with a team of Election Commission, on Tuesday evening had conducted a raid at Kanimozhi’s residence in Thoothukudi, based on the information shared by local administration.

I-T officials alleged that “lot of cash (is) stashed on the first floor of her house,” adding that they arrived for verification, reported NDTV.

However, after the search was over, the I-T officials told ANI that they “found nothing”.

The raid came two days before Tamil Nadu goes to polls in the second phase of the Lok Sabha elections.

‘Call for Reforms in Election Commission’: Stalin

Slamming the Election Commission over the raids, Stalin accused PM Modi of using the poll body to undermine his party’s image.

“Tamilisai Soundarajan has several crores of money at her residence. Why (are there) no raids at her place? Despite a proper complaint to the Election Commission, no action has been taken. I call for reforms in the Election Commission in the future.”

DMK President MK Stalin in a statement

The raids came just after President Ram Nath Kovind rescinded the election to the Vellore parliamentary constituency in Tamil Nadu, accepting the recommendation of the EC dated 14 April.

The election in the constituency was cancelled over excess use of money power, in the wake of cash seizures from DMK leaders over the last two weeks.

(With inputs from NDTV and ANI)