All seats in Puducherry, Tamil Nadu expenditure sensitive, says EC

CHENNAI: The Election Commission is putting in place massive infrastructure and is drafting scores of officials across all 39 constituencies in Tamil Nadu and the lone seat in Puducherry just to track flow of money. The commission has enough reason to be worried because out of the 110 seats identified as “expenditure sensitive” across the country, 40 are in this region alone. Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Bihar, Karnataka and Gujarat account for the rest.


Apart from the I-T department, the EC has roped in commercial banks also for tracking money flow. And on Wednesday even as the EC appointed retired IRS official Madhu Mahajan as special expenditure observer for Tamil Nadu, the authorities seized Rs 3.76 crore in cash and 94kg gold worth Rs 5.63 crore from the state.

“We have so far seized Rs 12.8 crore in cash. Gold bars weighing 94kg were seized from a person going to Karur from Madurai. He did not have proper papers and could not explain the source,” said state chief electoral officer Satyabrata Sahoo.

While multiple agencies such as police and revenue officials are engaged in checking vehicles and seizing unaccounted money, I-T officials are kept in the loop in case the seizure is more than Rs 10 lakh.

The EC has instructed banks to monitor accounts that had remained dormant for long, but have become active now, after the election date was announced. “Some dormant accounts have started getting deposits running into several lakh rupees. They are suspicious and we are monitoring them,” said Sahoo.

Income tax officials said they have been tracking huge cash deposits in bank accounts and major transfer of funds through net banking. “We initiate inquiry after cross-checking the flow of money with the account holders’ income tax returns. Anything abnormal is acted upon,” said a senior I-T official. If needed, the officials would carry out search operations in such cases, he said.

The CEO refuted the charge levelled by traders that EC officials, under the guise of checking vehicles, were putting stumbling blocks before free movement of merchandise. “If people who carry cash and gold produce proper documents to show their source, we do not seize it. This holds good for agencies involved in depositing cash in ATMs. Bank officials should carry proper papers when they transfer cash in vehicles,” said Sahoo.