Shimla: Chief Election Commissioner SY Quraishi on Monday sought people`s participation in checking use of black money in elections.
In his convocation address at Himachal Pradesh University here, he said EC’s aim is to hold free and fair elections in a crime-free environment, sans abuse of money and based on a perfect electoral rolls with full participation of voters.
He said people should act as watch dogs in checking use of black money in the polls. The CEC said that in the past 61 years, EC had conducted 15 elections to Lok Sabha and over 350 elections to state assemblies, thereby facilitating a peaceful, orderly and democratic transfer of power.
Quraishi said the Model Code of Conduct was the brainchild of politicians to regulate the electoral process in a fair and democratic manner while the bureaucracy had been responsible for completion of the elections by maintaining neutrality. He said EC would soon come up with a Systematic Voters Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) wing that rolls out comprehensive community outreach and multi-media campaigns to bring all citizens in to electoral participation.
PTI