Election office issues info for public

By Our Staff Reporter
IMPHAL, Jan 27: Additional Chief Electoral Officer, N Praveen Singh has provided a list of information/instructions of the Election Commission of India to bring awareness to the general public regarding carrying/transportation/storing of cash and other valued items during the ongoing State Assembly Election to 12th Manipur Legislative Assembly.
The information was imparted at a press meet held at CEO Office, Lamphel today.
Speaking to media persons, N Praveen Singh informed that any unexplained cash above Rs 50,000 will be subjected to seizure.
 It will be released only after it has been proven to have nothing to do with the elections, he added.
Further, any cash exceeding Rs 50,000 found in a vehicle carrying a candidate, his agent or party workers or carrying posters or election materials or any drugs, liquor, arms or gift items which are valued at more than Rs 10,000 and are likely to be used for inducement of electors or any illicit articles shall be subject to seizure.
 Also, a star campaigner will be allowed to carry cash upto Rs 1,00,000 exclusively for his/her personal use, he informed.
Regarding the seized cash/items, the Addl CEO informed that a proper Panchnama/seizure document will be issued according to provisions of CrPC and seized cash/items will not be kept pending in the treasury for more than 7 days after the date of poll, unless any complaint has been filed. Further, if any foreign or fake currency have  been seized, these will be referred to the relevant enforcement agency for further investigation.
All the search and seizure of cash or any valuable items stored in any premises will be carried out by the Income Tax Department, N Praveen shared.
In addition to all these, the Addl CEO cautioned that any person found giving or accepting any gratification in cash or kind in connection with the upcoming election will be punishable with imprisonment upto one year. Similarly, any person found threatening any candidate or elector or any other person with injury of any kind will be punishable with imprisonment for upto one year or with fine or both.
With regards to banks across the State, he instructed them to ensure that cash vans of outsourced agencies carrying cash of the concerned banks to not carry cash of any third party agencies/individuals.  Further, banks should inform the District Election Officials and Income Tax Officials regarding any unusual and suspicious cash withdrawal or deposit of cash exceeding Rs 1,00,000, he urged.
Mentioning the other measures taken up in line with the ensuing election, the Addl CEO said that PWDs will be allowed to cast their votes either through postal balloting or physical casting/voting.
He said that vehicles equipped with wheelchairs and stretchers will be arranged for the PWDs who opted to cast vote physically in all the Assembly Constituencies and Assembly blocks of both the valley and hill districts.
N Praveen went on to inform that air ambulances and choppers will be stationed in hill areas and remote areas so that any voter, elector, security or any other personnel manning the polling stations can be rushed to hospitals in case they meet any unwanted health related issues in and around the polling stations.
“Every polling station will be sanitized a day ahead of the polling day besides making efforts to implement the strict protocol and SoPs for COVID – 19”, he added.
The Addl CEO also stated that webcasting and offline video recordings will be done in 2400 polling stations.
When asked about the measures taken up to thwart duplicity of voters in the ensuing election, he said that more than 30,000 voters whose names were enlisted in two different Assembly Constituencies had been detected using appropriate software and rectified besides conducting training the polling personnel to avert such error through appropriate finger marking system to voters.
Saying that options will be given to COVID patients to cast vote either through postal balloting or physical casting, the Addl CEO added that special arrangements, such as wearing PPEs, gloves and other necessary equipment will be available on poll day.
Lastly, the Addl CEO encouraged people to contact their respective Nodal Officers/Control Room for further clarification about any of these guidelines.