New Delhi: Candidates contesting the
assembly elections in five states will have to open new bank
accounts to make all the poll-related payment, a move
initiated by the Election Commission to facilitate monitoring
of such expenditure.
"Candidates would be required to open a separate bank
account and incur their election expenses from that very
account," Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi told
reporters here.
He said the move would help achieve greater transparency
and ease monitoring of election expenses.
Seeking to tackle the menace of paid news, Quraishi said
a multi-level monitoring mechanism has been put in place in
the five poll-bound states of UP, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Goa and
Manipur.
Monitoring committees have been set up at district, state
and Commission level to deal with the issue of paid news, he
said.
"Representatives of political parties and media
organisations of poll going states have also been briefed" on
the issue of paid news, he said.
The General Observers deployed in every constituency will
be asked to keep a close watch on every stage of the electoral
process to ensure free and fair elections, he said.
In addition, the Commission will also deploy
micro-observers to observe the poll proceedings in selected
critical polling stations on the poll day, he said,
"They will be tasked to ensure the purity of the polling
process and will report to the general observers directly
about any vitiation of the poll proceedings in their allotted
polling stations," Quraishi said.
PTI
