The digital wallet and online payment services using unified payment interface (UPI) method has been brought under the scanner of the Election Commission of India to check distribution of cash for votes during the election.
Disclosing this to reporters here on Wednesday, the District Election Officer and Collector, M.Govinda Rao has said that a special team of employees drawn from the National Informatics Centre and ‘e-district’ project section had been formed to monitor the abnormal or intriguing money transactions using UPI through mobile phone money transfer applications.
The team would monitor and collate suspicious or high volume digital money transfers and pass on details of such transactions to the DEO for further action. Stating that the objective was to check misuse of digital money transfer applications to lure voters, he said that so far around ₹8.50 lakh in cash had been seized during the vehicle checks conducted by the flying and static surveillance teams at different parts of Thanjavur district.
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The persons from whom the money was seized have been directed to produce valid documents to prove that they carried such huge money with them for the purposes not relating to the elections and get back the same, he added.