ECI appoints former IRS officers as special expenditure observers for Maharashtra polls

The Election Commission of India (ECI) on Monday appointed former IRS officers named Madhu Mahajan and B Murali Kumar as special expenditure observers for the forthcoming Maharashtra Assembly elections.

The appointments were made by the poll body exercising the powers conferred on it under Article 324 of the Constitution and Section 20B of The Representation of the People Act 1951, the Election Commission said in a statement.

While Madhu Mahajan would watch the conduct of elections with special emphasis on controlling the abuse of money power, in consultation with the Chief Electoral Officer at Mumbai, while Murali Kumar would similarly be based in Pune to look into matters in rest of the state with officers and election authorities as deemed necessary.

The special observers will be supervising and monitoring the work being done by the electoral machinery and ensure that stringent and effective enforcement action is undertaken based on intelligence inputs and complaints received through C-VIGIL, Voter Helpline 1950 against all persons or entities trying to induce voters by distributing cash, liquor and freebies etc in order to vitiate the poll process.

It may be recalled that given her past experience in investigations wing of Income Tax Department, Mahajan was appointed Special Expenditure Observer for Tamil Nadu and Karnataka in recent Lok Sabha elections.

Murali Kumar was also appointed Special Expenditure Observer for Vellore Parliamentary Constituency during Lok Sabha Elections and had served as DGIT (Inv.), Chennai earlier.

Maharashtra will go to polls on October 21. The counting of votes for the new legislative assembly will take place three days later on October 24.