Delhi Assembly polls: I-T dept sets up control room to curb black money use

A special control room at the Income Tax Department here became operational to curb the use of black money in the ensuing Delhi Assembly election.

About half a dozen IT sleuths will be working round-the-clock. Any person can call a dedicated toll free number 1800 117 574 and give information related to unaccounted money being used by any candidate or party leader.An additional director-rank officer of the Investigation Directorate Wing has been appointed as the nodal officer on the direction of Election Commission.

He is being assisted by two assistant nodal officers and a team of income tax officers and inspectors.An official of Investigation Directorate told ANI that the control room will submit a report on the seizure of cash every alternate day to the Election Commission. This control room will collect information through fax, e-mails, news channels, newspapers, individuals and district election officers.

The control centre has been set up at C-Block, Civic Centre.Once the control room gets information about unaccounted money, the information will be recorded in a prescribed register and passed on to the nodal officer for necessary action.If the information is about unaccounted cash or bullion not related to bribery of electors, then the nodal officer will discuss with concerned Principal Director of Income-tax and obtain warrant or authorisation to conduct verification survey or search.

The control room will have to prepare a daily report and send it to a nodal officer and the election expenditure monitoring cell.According to the Model Code of Conduct, no person can carry cash above Rs 1 million or bullion weighing 1 kg or more without reasonable evidence. The control room will also verify information received from district election officers regarding cash withdrawals in excess of Rs 10 lakh from bank accounts.