Check vehicles of ministers, officers for unaccounted cash: Congress

JALANDHAR: Punjab Congress has written to the election commission and state's chief electoral officer (CEO) demanding that the vehicles escorting the chief minister, ministers and MLAs be checked randomly to detect possible ferrying of cash.
Punjab Congress spokesperson Nimisha Mehta urged EC authorities to conduct regular checks of vehicles belonging to ministers and MLAs of both BJP and SAD.Alleging that CM Parkash Singh Badal's demand for money for electioneering, while saying that they showed less in their expense account books, clearly indicated that illegal money was being taken and used in elections by SAD in clear violation of the model code of conduct.
Mehta further mentioned that vehicles of administrative and police officials should also be checked randomly as, in the past, official machinery had also been used by the ruling alliance in Punjab for elections.
"In the last elections, a huge amount of money was seized from the vehicle of a senior police officer. There is a strong possibility that the money will be used to motivate people to cast votes in their favour. Vehicles of officials, party leaders, ministers and MLAs may also be used to ferry unaccounted cash from one place to another," said Mehta.
She also stated that checks being conducted by police and poll officials during daytime were a mere eyewash. "There should be compulsory checks of vehicles during night till early morning between 11 pm and 5 am. A team should be formed having some mediapersons, representatives of different political parties, ECI officials and police. Also, the entire process should be video graphed as a proof," said Mehta in her plaint to the EC.