Bank Withdrawal Change: Income tax is keeping an eye on withdrawals of more than one lakh from banks

Bank Withdrawal Change: The Election Commission of India has announced the dates for Jharkhand Assembly Elections 2024. Elections will be held in Jharkhand in two phases, with the first phase of voting on November 13, 2024 and the second phase on November 20, 2024. The election results will be declared on November 23, 2024. Along with this, the commission has also given information about the rules of the Model Code of Conduct. Under these rules, if any candidate, his representative, or any citizen of the state withdraws cash from banks during the election process, the Income Tax Department will keep a close watch on it.

Bank withdrawal change: The Election Commission has issued comprehensive guidelines for effective monitoring of election expenditure of candidates. These include arrangements such as formation of Expenditure Observers, Assistant Expenditure Observers, Flying Squads, Static Surveillance Teams, Video Surveillance Teams, Video Viewing Teams, Accounting Teams, Media Certification and Monitoring Committee (MCMC), District Expenditure Monitoring Committee (DEMC), District Complaints Committee. Apart from this, several enforcement agencies have been involved such as State Police Department, State Excise Department, State Commercial Department, Income Tax Department, Central Board of Indirect Taxes and Customs (CBIC), Enforcement Directorate (ED), Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU), Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) and others.

Monitoring of alcohol and freebies

The state excise department has been asked to monitor the production, distribution, sale and storage of liquor during the election process. Along with this, the distribution of free items will also be closely monitored during the election process. The operations of flying squads and mobile teams will be monitored using GPS tracking and the cVIGIL app. Candidates will have to open a separate bank account to keep their election expenses transparent and all expenses will have to be made from the same account.

Monitoring of cash at airports

The Directorate of Investigation of the Income Tax Department has been directed to activate Air Intelligence Units at State/UT airports and keep an eye on the movement of large amounts of cash. Control rooms and complaint monitoring centres at the district level will operate with 24-hour toll-free numbers during the election process.

Monitoring cash withdrawals from banks

District Election Officers (DEOs) have been directed to obtain information about cash withdrawals or deposits of more than Rs 1 lakh from banks and investigate suspicious cases. If the amount is more than Rs 10 lakh, this information will be sent to the Income Tax Department for action. Along with this, the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU-IND) has also been asked to share Cash Transaction Reports (CTR) and Suspicious Transaction Reports (STR) with the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) so that strict monitoring can be done on the election expenses of the candidates.

New measures: Strengthening the election expenditure monitoring system

• SOP for cash seizure and release : To maintain purity of elections, the Commission has issued Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for flying squads and static surveillance teams to keep a check on excessive election expenditure, distribution of bribes in cash or kind, movement of illegal arms, liquor etc. A District Complaints Committee will also be constituted which will investigate cases of seizure of cash or valuables and return it if found not to belong to any candidate or political party.
• Expenses on election vehicles : The Commission has found that some candidates take permission for the use of campaign vehicles, but do not show the rent or fuel expenses of these vehicles in their election expenses. Now it has been made mandatory that unless the candidate informs about withdrawing the vehicles from campaigning, the expenditure will be assessed on the basis of permitted vehicles.
• Reconciliation Meeting of Expenses: In order to reduce disputes over election expenses, a reconciliation meeting of candidates' accounts will be held on the 26th day of declaration of results by the District Election Officers (DEOs).
• Campaign expenses of candidates with criminal antecedents : As per Supreme Court direction, candidates and political parties are required to include the expenses incurred towards publicising criminal antecedents of candidates in their election expenditure statement.
• Campaign booths and media expenses : Campaign expenses incurred by candidates' booths and TV channels or newspapers owned by them will be included in the election expenses of the candidate.
• Virtual campaign expenses : Candidates will also have to include the expenses incurred on campaigning through virtual means in their expenditure details.
• Election Expenditure Software (IEMS) : Election Commission has launched an online portal to enable political parties to easily file their expenditure reports and annual accounts.
• Election Seizure Management System (ESMS) : A mobile app has also been launched to digitise information on seized items.
• Election expenditure limit : The maximum limit of election expenditure for candidates for the assembly elections in Jharkhand and Maharashtra has been fixed at Rs 40 lakh per candidate.

Role of media and monitoring of social media

Considering the role of media as important in election management, the Commission has directed to maintain positive and effective dialogue with the media. Media Certification and Monitoring Committees (MCMC) have been formed at the district and state level for pre-certification of political advertisements and monitoring fake news. Along with this, political activities on social media will also be monitored. All political parties and candidates have been instructed that their supporters should not spread hate speech or fake news on social media. Through all these measures, the Election Commission is trying to ensure transparency and fairness of the electoral process.