Income Tax officials conduct searches at Kanimozhi's residence CHENNAI: Income tax and Election Commission officials began searches at the Tuticorin residence of DMK leader Kanimozhi on Tuesday based on information from the district collector. However, there was no information from either EC or I-T officials about any cash or documents being seized in the searches.Kanimozhi, the DMK candidate for the Tuticorin Lok Sabha constituency, was at home when a team of 10 officials arrived at the Kuringi Nagar residence, a few hours after electioneering came to an end in Tamil Nadu which votes on Thursday. She had rented the house after the party announced her candidature.Kanimozhi said the officials left after they found nothing at her home and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of trying to threaten opponents into submission. She said such tactics would not work and added that DMK was not a party that can be cowed down.DMK president M K Stalin accused EC of targeting his party. “I accuse Tuticorin BJP candidate Tamilisai Soundararajan of storing crores of rupees at her residence. Is the Income Tax department ready to search her residence?” asked Stalin.“We received information from Tuticorin collector that there is a suspicion of the upper portion of the residence being used wrongly. Based on the information from the collector, we entered the residence along with two squads. We were only checking whether anything was being stored there,” said an I-T official.<doc-sep>These tactics won't scare the DMK: Kanimozhi after I-T searches at her house Income Tax officials raided Kanimozhi’s residence at 8.30pm on Tuesday evening and concluded the search two hours later. news Lok Sabha 2019 “DMK will face anything, we are not afraid of this,” said DMK candidate for Thoothukudi parliamentary constituency Kanimozhi on Tuesday evening just after Income Tax officials raided her residence. Speaking to reporters at 10.44pm on Tuesday, Kanimozhi said, “Income Tax officers reached my house around 8.30 pm. We cooperated with them fully. I asked them if they had the necessary permissions, and they did not give me a proper response.” The DMK leader said that she went on to ask if the I-T officials had the required documents to search her premises. “They did not have it but I allowed them to go on. When I asked them who they wanted to meet, they said ‘candidate, candidate’. This means they wanted to target me as I am the candidate of the DMK alliance,” she said. Kanimozhi also said, “They didn't show me the complaint. They said there was a complaint here. They said nothing was there. This is to bring bad name to the DMK.” Pointing out that the raids against her were not the first against a DMK leader in Thoothukudi, Kanimozhi earlier in April. “Two times Anitha Radhakrishnan (DMK’s Thoothukudi South District Secretary) has been raided. They have searched without any basis. They have unfairly stopped elections in Vellore. They were probably hoping to find something here and use that as a reason to cancel polls in Thoothukudi too. But they were unsuccessful,” she alleged. Alleging that the Election Commission and Income Tax Depart are in an alliance with Modi, Kanimozhi said, “They are attempting to intimidate opposition parties.” She added, “Stalin has asked and I am also asking are they ready to search Tamilisai?” Kanimozhi is the candidate for the DMK-led alliance in Tamil Nadu and is up against BJP State President Tamilisai Soundararajan, who is the AIADMK-led alliance’s candidate. Tamil Nadu goes to polls on April 18. After the election to the Vellore seat was cancelled owing to cash seizures from the residence of a DMK candidate, Lok Sabha polls will be held only in 38 out of 39 constituencies. Bye-elections will be held to 18 Assembly seats simultaneously on Thursday. Polls to 4 more Assembly constituencies will be held on May 19. Results will be announced on May 23.<doc-sep>New Delhi: Officials of the Income-Tax Department and a static surveillance team of the Election Commission on Tuesday evening carried out a search at the residence of Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK) candidate and Rajya Sabha MP Kanimozhi in Thoothukudi in southern Tamil Nadu. The action came less than 48 hours before the second phase of elections on April 18, which will be held in 97 constituencies. All parliamentary seats in Tamil Nadu (39) and Puducherry (one seat) will vote in the second phase. Kanimozhi, the daughter of former chief minister and party chief M Karunanidhi, is contesting the Lok Sabha elections from Thoothukudi against Tamil Nadu BJP chief Tamilisai Soundararajan. The operation was allegedly conducted without a warrant. Official sources indicated that the searches were held following “some inputs” and “on the basis of information shared by local administration”, but they did not elaborate. “It is normal verification procedure,” an unidentified I-T official said. Confirming the development, Kanimozhi said that the I-T officials did not have the requisite warrant to conduct the searches. “Despite that, we fully coordinated with the agency. I was issued summons at 9:30 pm and was asked to record a statement at the spot. According to my knowledge, this is not legal. I feel they are conducting searches because I am the candidate of the opposition,” she said. Kanimozhi said that no cash or documents were found at the house. I-T officials confirmed that the DMK leader had cooperated with the team. Following information about the searches, a large number of DMK workers gathered in front of Kanimozhi's house expressing solidarity. They were also heard raising “Down with Modi” slogans, referring to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. 'Down with Modi' sloganeering by DMK cadre outside Kanimozhi's Tuticorin residence. pic.twitter.com/eH4E7IFCtY— Poornima Murali (@nimumurali) April 16, 2019 In a statement, DMK President MK Stalin said the raids were an outcome of the “fear of a damning defeat” for BJP's candidate Soundararajan. “This is murder of democracy,” Stalin added, claiming that Modi has killed the EC’s autonomous feature through such actions. The DMK chief said his party would work towards ushering in reforms in the appointments of chief election commissioner, election commissioners and state chief electoral officers. “If needed, we will not hesitate to approach the Supreme Court,” he said. A defiant Kanimozhi hit out at the central government. “Tamilisai has parked several crores of rupees in her residence. Is the EC ready to conduct searches there?” she asked. “The DMK will not be perturbed by these incidents. We will fight against these forces.” “We will emerge victorious,” she said. “The ruling party is scared of our victory. They are carrying out raids to tarnish the DMK’s image.” Questioning the timing, Stalin hit out at the EC and said the poll body is being “deliberately used by [PM Narendra] Modi to target the party”. Echoing Kanimozhi’s apprehensions, Stalin inquired if raids would also be conducted at Soundararajan’s residence. “Despite a proper complaint to the Election Commission, no action has been taken,” he said, calling for reforms in the poll watchdog. In a separate incident, a flying squad of EC officials attempting to check for cash distribution by TTV Dhinakaran's AMMK were held captive by party workers in Theni. The police fired four rounds in the air to rescue the officials even as the poll panel stepped up efforts to check cash distribution in the state ahead of polling. At least four persons were detained and more than Rs 30 lakh in cash seized. In the run-up to the polls, several raids have been conducted over the last few weeks, mostly targeting members of the Opposition and their aides. I-T Department officials last week had conducted searches at 18 locations in Tamil Nadu, including Chennai, Namakkal and Tirunelveli. Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu on Tuesday also slammed the central government over continuing I-T raids, alleging the searches were only targeted against those who opposed the BJP. Earlier on Tuesday, President Ram Nath Kovind accepted the EC's recommendation to cancel the Lok Sabha election in Vellore over excessive use of money power, days after a large sum of cash was seized from the warehouse of a DMK candidate. The recommendation was sent after cash seizures from the premises of DMK veteran leader and party treasurer Duraimurugan’s son Kathir Anand’s house in Vellore on March 29. The EC's flying squad on Tuesday also seized unaccounted cash of Rs 1.41 crore from a car near Sulur on the outskirts of Coimbatore during a vehicle check.<doc-sep>Unfazed by the Income Tax raids at her house, DMK leader Kanimozhi on Wednesday said the BJP cannot stop her from winning the Lok Sabha elections. “BJP cannot prevent my success through this income tax raid. The raid is anti-democratic, deliberately planned and tested and no documents have been seized”, the DMK’s candidate from Tamil Nadu’s Thootukudi said, reports ANI. The DMK leader, who is the daughter of late Karunanidhi, added that the BJP was trying to intimidate her. Also Read | Income tax department raids DMK leader Kanimozhi’s house in Tamil Nadu’s Thoothukudi On Tuesday, officials from the income tax department and the Election Commission (EC)searched Kanimozhi’s residence and office, two days before the state votes. According to I-T department officials who refused to be named, the raids were conducted on the basis of a complaint by the returning officer and district magistrate Sandeep Nanduri. “The raids were conducted in Kurinji Nagar at Thoothukkudi. As we received information about cash movement, we launched the raids. About 10 officials from the ECand I-T department have conducted the raids,” said an official in the I-T department on condition of anonymity. Attempts to contact Nanduri were unsuccessful.<doc-sep>
Election 2019: DMK leader Kanimozhi was raided by income tax officials on Tuesday Highlights "Income tax raid is anti-democratic, deliberately planned": Kanimozhi "False tip" and no case has been registered: I-T sources Kanimozhi contesting from Thoothukudi Lok Sabha seat on April 18 Senior DMK leader and party chief MK Stalin's sister, Kanimozhi, today said that the BJP cannot stop her from winning in the Lok Sabha elections by mounting pressure through income tax raids. "BJP cannot prevent my success through this income tax raid. The raid is anti-democratic, deliberately planned and tested, and no document has been seized," Kanimozhi told news agency ANI in Thoothukudi, after the raids. Following the raids, I-T sources said that it was a "false tip" and no case has been registered. "They want to intimidate us...they have come to stop elections in Thoothukudi. DMK volunteers will be working with more enthusiasm now," she added. The raids on Kanimozhi, who is contesting from the Thoothukudi Lok Sabha seat, comes just 48 hours before Tamil Nadu votes on April 18. On Tuesday evening, tax department officials swooped down on the house, where the DMK leader was staying, apparently after "someone" in the local administration tipped off the officials sources said. The tax men came looking for "lots of cash" allegedly stashed on the first floor of her house added sources. Kanimozhi was present in the house when the raids were being conducted and she cooperated with the central team but nothing was found. Dozens of DMK supporters protested, raising slogans against PM Modi, as the raids were going on. Party chief MK Stalin, yesterday alleged that the BJP is using all central probe agencies against opposition leaders because of the "fear of losing." "I got a message that Kanimozhi's premises are being raided. BJP candidate Tamilisai Soundarajan's premises has crores and crores of rupees...why no raids there? Who will take action? PM Modi used I-T department, CBI, the judiciary and the Election Commission of India, to interfere in the electoral process," claimed Stalin. Alleging that Rs 2000 notes are being widely "offered" in the elections, Stalin said, "This is basically the murder of democracy...will you report this? In Theni constituency, 1000-rupee notes are being offered to voters, what about that? Tamil Nadu minister Velumani is accused of distributing money, his close aide Sabesan's house was raided, no one reported." Last week, tax department officials conducted searches at 18 locations in Tamil Nadu. The list of locations included Chennai, Namakkal and Tirunelveli. Most of the searches were on properties owned by opposition leaders.