Poll preparedness: Observers review suspicious cash transaction, brief district election team
Source: The Sangai Express / DIO

Bpr/Kpi, February 10 2022: Election Expenditure Observers for Bishnupur district, Akta Jain, IRS and Mahesh G Jiwade, IRS convened a meeting with Managers of all Bank branches in the district today at the Conference Hall of DC Complex in Bishnupur.

The meeting was held to review suspicious cash transactions during the election process in the district.

During the meeting, Expenditure Observers instructed bank representatives to report all suspicious cash withdrawal or deposits exceeding Rs 10 lakh during the election process to the Election Expenditure Monitoring cell for necessary action.

The Nodal Officer for Income Tax will send a notice to the account holder for such transactions, the Observers informed.

Expenditure Observers continued that unusual transfer of amount by RTGS from one bank account to accounts of several persons in the district without any precedent of such transfer must also be reported to the expenditure team.

Poll preparedness

Further, transactions above Rs 1 lakh from bank accounts of candidates or candidates' family members without such transaction history must also be reported, the observers added.

The Expenditure Observers also proposed creation of a dedicated whatsapp group for bankers, EEM teams, DEO, Nodal Officer EEM, ROs and Assistant Election Observers to share and coordinate on suspicious cash transaction cases.

Mention may be made that the election expenditure ceiling for candidates for the ensuing Manipur Legislative Assembly Election have been revised to Rs 28 Lakh.

The review meeting was attended by DEO Bishnupur, L Bikram, ADC Bishnupur, ROs, District Nodal Officer EEM, Assistant Expenditure Observers and bank representatives from SBI, UCO, Manipur Rural Bank, Manipur State Cooperative Bank, Central Bank, Axis Bank, HDFC and Punjab National Bank.

KANGPOKPI
Special General Observer for Manipur, Pravir Krishna, IAS (Retd), Special Police Observer, Arun Kumar, IPS (Retd) and Special Expenditure Observer, Rajesh Tuteja, Ex IRS(IT) today briefed the District Election Officer (DEO) Kengoo Zuringla, IAS and entire election team of Kangpokpi district at the Conference Hall in DC Complex, Kangpokpi to ensure smooth conduct of election in the district.

After a warm welcome by the DEO, the observers reviewed the district's poll preparedness ahead of the first phase voting to the 12th Manipur Legislative Election.

The Observers highlighted the need to shield the border areas and check vehicles entering the district.

They also stressed on the need to provide proper fooding and lodging to the CAPF personnel deployed for election duty and abide the Covid appropriate behaviour.

The observers asked the election team to carry out randomization of the polling personnel for a free and fair election.

They also advised that special arrangements should be made to ensure easy accessibility in communication for those polling personnel assigned for election duty in far-flung polling stations.

It is worth mentioning here that Pravir Krishna had been General Observer earlier in Manipur and Arun Kumar had been with BSF, CRPF & CAPF Coordinator in 2015 Bihar elections.

Rajesh Tuteja had worked as Director Investigations in Himachal Pradesh & Haryana and also associated earlier with elections in Punjab, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.

The Election Commission of India has appointed 15 Special Observers for the current General Elections to the Legislative Assemblies of Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Uttar Pradesh.

They will be supervising and monitoring the work being done by the electoral machinery in their assigned States and ensure that stringent, effective enforcement action is undertaken based on intelligence inputs and complaints received through CVigil, voter helpline among others.

The officers will oversee the entire poll processes as eyes and ears of the Commission on the ground to ensure free, fair and voter friendly elections.