Digital money transactions (during Assembly polls), which come under the purview of the Election Commission, will be monitored and action will be taken as per the standard operating procedure, Tamil Nadu Chief Electoral Officer Satyabrata Sahoo said here on Saturday.
Addressing a press conference, Mr. Sahoo said, “Already, a State-level committee has been formed; we held a meeting with officials of the Income Tax, Customs, Enforcement Directorate, the Reserve Bank of India and banks. SOPs are coming from the EC, based on which we will act on transactions that come under the purview of the Commission,” he said. This is part of the measure to check distribution of money to voters through the digital mode.
Mr. Sahoo did not see anything wrong in political parties launching their campaign before the announcement of the election date. “The Model Code of Conduct will come into effect after the date of election is announced but even otherwise there are certain rules. But there is no bar on parties campaigning,” he said.
On the criticism against parties on the issue, Mr. Sahoo said there were some complaints, and action had been taken as per the EC’s guidelines.
When it was pointed out that parties were making promises, Mr. Sahoo said: “If there is anything against the law, the EC will give us suitable directions.”
Elaborating on the preparations for the Assembly election, Mr. Sahoo said the first level checking of electronic voting machines and Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPAT) devices by BEL engineers had been completed in 26 districts. The exercise would be completed in the other districts by February 5.
About the possibility of the Assembly election being held in March, Mr. Sahoo said he had no such information.
He pointed out that the term of the current Assembly would end on May 24 and the EC would finalise the dates accordingly.
At an interaction with a high-level delegation of the EC in Chennai recently, almost all parties were in favour of holding the Assembly election in a single phase, and the Commission would take this into account while taking a decision.
Staff requirement
Mr. Sahoo, who was here to inspect a four-day training programme for 118 returning officers from 20 districts, said the district election officers were assessing the manpower requirement for conducting the election and would prepare a list of staff from available Central and State government departments and the public sector units in their districts.
There was still time to rectify errors in electoral rolls. Inclusions and deletions can be done till 10 days prior to the last date for filing of nominations. Senior citizens had the option of voting through postal ballot. However, they were also free to cast their votes at the polling stations.
