Scam money role problem in elections: ex-CEC Quraishi

Illegal funds obtained from scams are a new problem for the polling process in India, former chief election commissioner S.Y. Quraishi said Saturday.

He said scams related to money are one of the new issues plaguing the elections and monitoring the funds prior to the electoral process is a "problem".

"Absolutely .. money in elections has become the root cause of corruptions in the country because if you spend crores in fighting the elections then you have to collect the crores of rupees," Quraishi said here in response to a question on involvement of funds from scams, like the Saradha chit fund scam.

He was speaking at the launch of his book "An Undocumented Wonder: The Making of the Great Indian Election" here.

Quraishi stressed money leads to a nexus between bureaucracy and politicians.

"When you come to power, you come to bureaucracy and say that I have to return the money..you say there be will extra money for you and me and then the political and bureaucracy nexus begins.

"Then it becomes very difficult to stop," he said.

Quraishi admitted vigilance of scam related money prior to elections is a "problem.""This is one of the newer problems that we are facing. That is a problem because the Election Commission codes comes into action the day the elections are announced," he said, adding solutions are being contemplated.