Black money in Manipur elections
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: February 12, 2022 -

BACK in December last year, chief electoral officer Dr Rajesh Agrawal listed Andro, Wangoi, Mayang Imphal, Thanga, Lilong and Churachandpur (ST) as expenditure sensitive constituencies out of the state's total 60 assembly segments.

Addressing media persons at his office, Rajesh Agrawal had explained that based on reports pertaining to expenditure incurred by candidates, seizure of cash, liquor and other items along with activities of candidates in the previous election, the six seats fall under the expenditure sensitive constituencies, which technically meant that the voters are susceptible to trade off their franchise rights in exchange of material possession.

As announced on the same day, various official teams have been formed and activated to minutely monitor unconstitutional acts and activities since announcement of the election schedules.

Various measures initiated by offiqe of the CEO are aimed at preserving sanctity of the democratic exercise and exhorting the masses to play their part in cleansing the electoral system from all ills.

Nevertheless, election expenditure observers for Bishnupur district citing huge financial transactions and advising official representatives of all bank branches in the district during a meeting on Thursday to furnish relevant reports deepen the suspicion that like in past elections wealthier candidates have better chance of finding their way to the 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly.

The meeting specifically convened to review suspicious cash transactions during election process in the district also corroborates the fact that the toughest task for the ECI or the CEO will be curbing the chronic malaise of cash-for-vote practice in the state.

Though the expenditure observers instructed bank representatives to report all suspicious cash withdrawals or deposit exceeding Rs 10 lakh during the election process to the Election Expenditure Monitoring Cell for necessary action/there is remote chance of the bankers extending full cooperation for it is obvious that the officials wouldn't want to upset their valued customers, who are either candidates themselves or are wealthier citizens sponsoring the election contestants.

Instead of joining hands to check electoral malpractices, there is strong possibility that the bank officials will alert those under the scanner of the expenditure observers to exercise caution.

For the record, the election expenditure ceiling of candidates for the ensuing assembly elections has been increased to Rs 28 lakh but such amount will obviously be accounted for conventional activities as it is well known in Manipur's context that election funding is a murky affair.

It's generally accepted that political parties and almost all the individual candidates collect huge sum of money, mostly unaccounted for, from unknown sources through dubious means, especially during elections.

There are no reliable estimates of the quantum of funds collected on behalf of parties or candidates, or the amount of money that goes into the electoral process.

However, it is presumed that major political parties are the main culprits and beneficiaries of this corrosive practice which they themselves decry from every possible platform.

It is often commented that corruption and poll-funding are inseparable twins with funding of elections mostly sourced from black money, which no vigilance institutions had been able to effectively curb till date.