Expenditure Observers appointed by the Election Commission of India (ECI) for Sivaganga Lok Sabha constituency have asked officials to specially focus on rural areas and assess poll-related expenditures made by contesting candidates for the April 18 elections.
Addressing the officials with Collector J. Jayakanthan, the District Election Officer (DEO), and Superintendent of Police T. Jayachandran here on Wednesday, the observers - Vivek B Umap and Sathyaprakash R Singh - said the officials should keenly watch expenses made by candidates in rural areas, where they could lure voters by giving cash and gifts.
Apart from Flying Squad Teams and Static Surveillance Teams, accounting teams and video teams should watch the rallies and electioneering of candidates of political parties and make their own assessment of the expenditures involved. They should compare their assessment with the accounts submitted by the candidates, they said.
The officials should regularly monitor ‘community feasts’ organised by candidates and distribution of gifts and cash to lure the voters. Village workers and panchayat secretaries should also maintain vigil and report any violation of model code of conduct to the DEO, they said.
In the urban areas, owners of commercial establishments should alert the DEO if there was any bulk purchase of gift items. Similarly, bankers should alert the DEO and Income tax officials on large amounts of deposits and withdrawals, the observers said. The officials should monitor and assess the expenditure when the candidates campaigned through the print and electronic media, they said.
District Revenue Officer G Latha, Additional Superintendent of Police Mangaleswaran and officials were present in the meeting.
Ramanathapuram
In Ramanathapuram, expenditure observers Shyam Kumar (Paramakudi Assembly by-election), Om Prakash Patel (Thiruvadanai, Paramakudi and Arantangi Assembly segments) and Amith Gupta (Thiruchuzhi, Mudukulathur and Ramanathapuram Assembly segments) held a meeting with Collector and DEO K. Veera Raghava Rao and Superintendent of Police Omprakash Meena in the evening. They also visited the Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC) room and inspected the arrangements.
