Two days before the first phase of elections in Andhra Pradesh, TDP leader Chandrababu Naidu could be in some serious trouble with the Election Commission. Chandrababu Naidu could be in trouble with the Election Commission.
Leo Augustine of the Indian Justice Party has released an audio CD said to be of a teleconference in which Naidu apparently asked TDP candidates to go all out and spend money to ensure victory. "First time, I am insisting. Because we need to win. To win, you must get together all your resources and spend money, mobilise money.
Then systematically organise the spending. Money should reach upto the booth committee. In the next 16 days, in 2-3 instalments or 3-4 instalments, money should reach every booth." Naidu has neither denied nor confirmed if it is indeed his voice on the CD.
"There is no truth in it. They want to create suspicion in the minds of the people," he says. The audio CD was handed over Andhra’s Chief Electoral Officer I V Subba Rao on Tuesday. It is claimed to be a recording of a teleconference the TDP president held with his party functionaries on the first of April.
Says Rao: "Chandrababu Naidu is said to have spoken about spending and distributing money. We have got two complaints. We will examine them and send our report to the EC for further action.”
That political parties spend large amounts of money on elections is an open secret. The ceiling for spending for a parliamentary constituency is 25 lakh rupees and for an assembly it is 15 lakh rupees.