Paying the Price for Notes for Votes

Granted, buying votes isn’t even surprising anymore, but some days after the Maharashtra polls, there was a shock of a different kind.

Granted, buying votes isn’t even surprising anymore, but some days after the Maharashtra polls, there was a shock of a different kind. A villager in Thane district whose family got Rs 3,000 for three votes decided to go on a buying spree that ended when a shopkeeper found a note was fake. He was beaten up and handed over to the police. As news spread, other villagers found their notes, too, were fake. As the anger threatened to spill beyond the village square, the police let off the first victim. “They would have torched us. The money was definitely distributed by politicians. They are poor people and suddenly everyone could not have earned Rs 1,000 notes,” says a police constable. The case registered is against ‘unknown persons’.