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Will DMK's Kanimozhi Win Thoothukudi Despite The I-T Raids?

Kanimozhi contested against Tamil Nadu BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images

DMK’s Kanimozhi contested from the Thoothukudi constituency in Tamil Nadu in the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. She is currently an MP in the Rajya Sabha from Tamil Nadu. She is pitted against state BJP president Tamilisai Soundararajan. She is the daughter of DMK patriarch, late M Karunanidhi.

Kanimozhi faced income tax raids right before Tamil Nadu went to polls on 18 April in phase 2. Officials of the Income Tax department carried out raids in her home in Tuticorin allegedly after a tip-off that cash had been stashed away at her residence. However, the officials admitted that she cooperated with the team and they found nothing.

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The DMK claimed that this was a concerted effort by the BJP and the Modi government to harm her chances right before polling. Kanimozhi herself said that it was done by “thugs”. “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… They want to intimidate us through this. They have come to stop elections in Thoothukudi. DMK volunteers will be working with more enthusiasm,” she had said.

DMK president MK Stalin said, “I am alleging that crores of money are stashed in Modi’s house. Will you dare to carry out raids?”

Kanimozhi was named in the CBI chargesheet for the 2G scam in 2011 for reportedly accepting a Rs 214-crore bribe. She did jail time from May 2011 to November 2011. In 2017, a special court acquitted Kanimozhi and others of all charges in the 2G spectrum scam case. However, the court had held that the prosecution “miserably failed” to prove the charges against the accused.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.