EC to monitor illegal movement of cash during polls

Chandigarh: Noting that money becomes the biggest source of corruption during elections, the Election Commission on Wednesday said it has deployed teams consisting of officials from various agencies to monitor illegal movement of cash during the upcoming Assembly polls in five states.

"We know that money in election becomes the biggest source of corruption. Though the expense limit is up to Rs 16 lakh (for candidates contesting Assembly polls), crores of rupees are spent," Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi said addressing a press conference.

When a candidate spends crores of rupees in election, he will have a tendency to recover the same from the very first day he gets elected, the CEC observed.

"This is how corruption begins and which is why we are working to strike at its root. In the upcoming polls, we have deployed teams which include officials from the police, paramilitary, Income Tax and other departments to strictly monitor illegal movement of cash (which is used) to woo the voters," Quraishi said.

He said the EC would keep a strict eye on voters being lured by parties by doling out cash and gifts.

A six-member EC team led by Quraishi was on a two-day visit to Chandigarh which began yesterday. It took stock of poll arrangements in the state and met representatives of various political parties here. The polls to the 117-member Punjab Assembly are scheduled to be held on January 30.

The CEC said that Rs 73 crore of unaccounted money, including Rs 3.5 crore from Punjab, has been seized so far from the five states going to polls.

Quraishi said 22 IG rank officers from different parts of the country will be put on poll duty in Punjab as observers, while 59 IAS officers will act as general observers. Besides, 43 officers from the Indian Revenue Service have been made expenditure observers.

He said that monitoring committees have also been constituted to check the menace of paid news. Asserting that the EC is a free body, he said, "There should be no ambiguity (about this). EC is under nobody's control."

To a question that tour programmes of the election commissioners were controlled by the government, he said that it was a procedural requirement. "Even the tour programmes of judges go to the President and get approved through an administrative mechanism. To say that anybody is controlling the EC is out of question."

He said that the EC should also have an independent Secretariat like Registrars of the Supreme Court and the High Courts and of the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha.

About the expenditure incurred by the EC on each voter, Quraishi said, "Though we have not made exact calculations, the estimate is that we incur an average of Rs 16 per voter, this is the cheapest in the world."

Meanwhile, an SAD delegation met the CEC and objected to H S Kandola being appointed as Returning Officer in Lambi from where Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal is seeking a re-election. The delegation alleged that Kandola was closely associated with the state Congress chief Amarinder Singh.

Acting on a complaint of the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal, the EC asked opposition parties including Congress to adhere to the model code of conduct.

On the other hand, Amarinder Singh has sought transfer of several top officials who according to him are partisan towards the ruling party.