The Election Commission (EC) has deployed about 200 expenditure observers in the five poll-bound States to keep a watch on abuse of money power to influence voters.
On Sunday, Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Nasim Zaidi and Election Commissioners A.K. Joti and O.P. Rawat briefed the Expenditure Observers drawn from various services on measures to be taken to check malpractices as part of the Model Code of Conduct guidelines.
The CEC also apprised the observers of the new instructions issued by the Commission.
If any payment exceeding Rs. 20,000 is made to individuals or entities during the course of election, it should only be through account payee cheque. Also, the candidates are required to open separate bank accounts at the time of nomination and to incur all election-related expenditure through that account only. The expenditure incurred on the candidate’s booths for distribution of voter slips on the day of election, would also be accounted for in the account of the candidate.
