The Election Commission of India (EC) will issue new guidelines in a fortnight to curb electoral malpractices in the five States, including Tamil Nadu, where Assembly elections are due.
They will be based on steps taken for the Bihar Assembly elections to trace money trail and prevent bribing of voters, Praveen Kumar, Chief Electoral Officer, told a press conference here on Monday.
Efforts would be taken to gather intelligence in every constituency to curb flow of cash and each candidate would be required to open a bank account to show election expenditure.
Answering a question on steps taken by the EC to prevent malpractices in by-elections in the State, Mr. Kumar said nearly 6,000 FIRs had been filed, mostly related to defacement of property. In some cases, punishment had been handed out.
Money power and muscle power must not influence voting behaviour, the CEO said, and asked people to “vote with conscience.”
As part of the National Voters Day celebrations, the EC plans to create awareness to include every voter in the electoral list as about 23 lakh people are expected to be out of it as of now.
Efforts will be made to make everyone vote.
The State recorded 70 to 73 per cent voting in the previous two elections.
As part of the campaign, a voter's badge, pledge and slogans are being disseminated through media, he said.
The Voters' Day celebrations will be organised in 29,000 locations covering 54,000 polling booths.
Educational institutions, NGOs, women, youth and civil society organisations have been asked to extend help to inculcate in voters a commitment to the electoral process for a stronger democracy, Mr. Kumar said.
Although the final rolls were published there was still a chance for a voter to apply through Form 6 and get the voter ID card in one month, he added.
