Minister for Tamil Official Language and Tamil Culture K. Pandiarajan on Saturday said the influence of money on voters was on the wane.
Though DMK MLA P. T. R. Palanivel Thiagarajan agreed that voters would prefer a good candidate over money, as exemplified by his election from the Madurai Central constituency, he pointed out that his party forfeited its deposit in the R.K. Nagar constituency because it did not distribute money to voters.
“The candidate in my neighbouring constituency lost the election by 30% margin even though he did distribute money,” Mr. Thiagarajan claimed, participating in a debate on ‘Vision for Tamil Nadu: The Next Orbit’ organised by the Chennai International Centre.
Asked whether they would declare that their parties would not distribute money to voters in elections, all Mr. Pandiarajan would say was that he personally would like his party not to give money to voters. “I will also not distribute money,” he said.