Dimapur, April 1 (EMN): The special expenditure observer for Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh, DD Goel, has noted ‘past experiences’ that Nagaland hasn’t exactly been a great example of virtue when it comes to money and “dumping cash” during elections. It is for said reason that officials have been asked to be vigilant.
Likewise, the official has asked banks to provide ‘daily information’ about any unusual transaction ‘based on real time.’ Another matter of concern for Goel that required strict monitoring was alcohol.
The special expenditure observer arrived in Dimapur on April 1 to examine the ground work that is currently on in Nagaland for the forthcoming Lok Sabha polls.
The government publicity agency Information & Public Relations (IPR) issued on Monday updates about Goel’s visit.
The election official conducted a meeting with the deputy commissioner of Dimapur, commissioner of Dimapur police, director of Dimapur Airport; additional commissioner for Excise; commandants of the 173rd CRPF; and officials from Income Tax, CISF, and nodal officers for expenditure and monitoring teams.
Goel was said to have apprised the establishment to be vigilant against ‘inflow of black money’ in the state, in order to check the influence of money during the coming Lok Sabha elections.
“Citing past experiences where Nagaland was used for dumping cash during elections, Goel reminded all the officials to be vigilant on the movement of private choppers,” the IPR reported.
Likewise, he sought cooperation from the banks and asked them to provide ‘daily information’ to the district administration about any unusual transactions ‘based on real time.’ Besides the State Bank of India, Goel informed that cooperative banks and all other private banks are to give information about their daily transactions to the district administration till the election process is over.
Another matter of concern was alcohol. “Observing that distribution of liquor and other contraband items are common during elections, Goel advised the Excise department to continue to be alert on the flow of such items,” the IPR stated.
The special expenditure observer mulled the idea of using advertisements and hoardings with regard to the citizen’s reporting app cVigil.
Goel urged the officials to cooperate and give their best efforts to conduct the 17th Lok Sabha elections successfully.
Similarly, the expenditure official had meetings with the chief electoral officer of Nagaland Abhijit Sinha; commissioner for Nagaland, M Patton; and expenditure observers and other officials in Kohima.
The observer highlighted the Election Commission’s guidelines concerning expenditure. He sought status reports from the election establishment, additional inputs from the Nagaland CEO’s office stated on Monday.
“The Observer was keen to understand the major components of inducement of voters and reviewed the status of seizures (cash, liquor etc). He was briefed by the CEO, the state police nodal officer and the expenditure observers present,” the updates stated.
“In this connection, the Observer also proposed to examine the market and find out if there has been any sudden spurt in the sale and purchase of any particular item that could have a bearing on the ensuing elections.”
Goel was said to have emphasised on the importance and effectiveness of the c-Vigil app in curbing and addressing election expenditure violations by candidates and political parties ‘for inducement of voters.’
Accordingly, the press release stated, Goel asked the state’s election machinery to ‘enhance publicity’ of the c-Vigil app through the media especially the daily newspapers.
