On the District Collector’s directive, the Lead Bank has issued special instructions to nearly 600 branches of various banks in Kozhikode district to report details of all ‘suspicious financial transactions’. The strict daily monitoring in compliance with the State Election Commission’s advisory will continue till the declaration of election results.
Though there are restrictions on exchanging confidential banking details with a third party, the election authorities have made it clear that bank officials will be held accountable for failure to report “suspicious transactions” above ₹1 lakh. The objective of the close monitoring is to ensure that no voter is influenced by money or gifts.
The Lead bank authorities have said that the reporting process will in no way affect routine transactions, online fund transfers, or deposits by account holders. Usually, unaccounted money never lands in any bank account, but efforts will be made to monitor strange transactions as specified by the election authorities, they added.
“We have informed all banks to strictly comply with the guidelines and keep an eye on all doubtful fund transfers or deposits. The Lead Bank will report details to the District Election Officer for further proceedings,” said Lead Bank Manager T.M. Muraleedharan. He added that no suspicious indents had been reported in the district till Friday.
In the case of cooperative banks, the monitoring process will be done by a separate district-level team. The Joint Registrar of Cooperative Societies will be responsible for coordinating district-level teams for daily reporting. The Goods and Services Tax (GST) authorities are also part of the State-level banking surveillance activities, apart from constituency-level static surveillance squads and special flying squads deployed for field duty.
