EC withdraws observer from Assam for transgression of

The Election Commission today withdrew an Expenditure Observer from poll-bound Assam for "transgression of jurisdiction" by raiding a state minister's residence to seize alleged illegal money.
The Commission said here the search and seizure operation at the residence of Assam Agriculture Minister Rockybul Hussain was carried out independently by the Income Tax Department under the provisions of the Income Tax Act on receipt of intelligence from an independent agency.
It said the Expenditure Observer (Raghvendra Singh, an IRS officer) deployed by the Commission had activated the flying squad as a part of follow up action, following the information received from the Income Tax department.

"In the present case, the Expenditure Observer has transgressed his jurisdiction by reaching at the spot himself and acted against the instructions of the Election Commission. The Commission does not authorise any of its observers to carry out any such enforcement activities by himself/ herself...The Commission has viewed this lapse by Expenditure Observer seriously and has withdrawn him from constituency forthwith and instructed the controlling authority to initiate suitable departmental action against him," the Commission said in a statement.
The observers on receiving such information are required to pass on the same to enforcement agencies for appropriate actions and continue monitoring as laid down in the Manual of EC, the poll watchdog said.

All observers have been directed to perform their actions within the prescribed framework as laid down by ECI manual, it said.