Chennai: Admitting that flow of money was a
"big challenge" in Tamil Nadu, the Election Commission on Monday
said it would put in place strong measures to control it ahead
of the April 13 assembly polls in the state.
"We feel the seizures are not enough. There is lot more
money which we need to seize.. so we are going to tighten our
control (on distribution of money)", Chief Election
Commissioner (CEC) S Y Quraishi told reporters here.
The flow of money would increase as the election date
approaches but strong measures would be in place to control
it, the CEC, who held a day-long review meeting with political
parties and police officials, said.
Terming the flow of money as a "big challenge", he said it
was one of the main "concerns" of EC.
Rejecting political parties` demand for extending the
campaign duration till 11 pm, he pointed out that the time
limit was in accordance with a Supreme Court order.
"It is the Supreme Court`s order. After 10 pm , they
should not use loud speakers", he said.
On the issue of a month`s gap between polling and counting,
he said the electronic voting machines would be kept in rooms
guarded by paramilitary forces.
"Political parties are allowed to keep their agent to keep
an eye round the clock. We will also have close circuit TV
monitoring it. We are also examining the feasibility of
installing camera inside all the rooms.", he said.
Quraishi said EC would change election officers if they are
found to be biased towards a political party.
"A long list of officers has been given to us saying they
are not neutral. We do not take complaints on face value (but)
will cross check and if need be we will change some officers
for sure", he said.
He said every political party has promised that they would
follow the guidelines and the model code of conduct as
prescribed by the Election Commission.
"We hope they do so," he said.
PTI
