EC seeks teeth to fight money power in polls

Might move SC to get the right to cancel elections where funds are used to sway voters

 

The Election Commission of India (EC) will appeal to the Supreme Court seeking powers to countermand polls in constituencies where it is certain money was used to sway votes.

Sources in the EC said the groundwork had been done by deferring the ongoing Assembly elections in the Thanjavur and Aravakurichi constituencies of Tamil Nadu to 23 May, after large amounts of money was seized from the homes of candidates.

The money would have been used to influence voters, the EC suspects. It claims to have found documentary evidence of how the money would be distributed in different wards by local members of political parties. Sources said the ECI had already appealed to the Madras Hugh Court, and it was ready to go to the Supreme Court to resolve the problem that “will become the only hurdle in conducting free and fair elections five or 10 years hence”, said a senior officer.

The Representation of People Act has been amended to countermand election in cases where muscle power has been used. But, there is no law to cancel an election where money has been cited as an inducement. The EC deferred elections in two constituencies in Tamil Nadu using Article 324 of the Constitution which vests the electoral body with the power of superintending and conducting elections.

In Tamil Nadu, not only has Rs 112 crore, and large quantities of gold and silver been intercepted during the election, but also the transfer of Rs 570 crore from the currency chest at the State Bank of India in Coimbatore to the SBI Special Currency Administration Branch in Vishakhapatnam was caught as the currency transported did not seem to match the book entries in the records of the bank.

Also, the cash was transported by vans manned by policemen in mufti (wearing lungis) who could not produce proper paperwork. The Income Tax Department has seized the vans and has issued warrants. The EC has also written to the Reserve Bank of India governor, asking it how the money came to be transported in such a slipshod manner at the height of an election. Although the SBI has provided an explanation, sources in the EC believe this was “hot” money which was going to be used either to gamble with or for day-trading or speculation.