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Business News/ Politics / Policy/  EC writ should begin six months before a poll: S.Y. Quraishi
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EC writ should begin six months before a poll: S.Y. Quraishi

Pre-election expenditure should be taken into account to check misuse of money in the voting process, say former CEC

A file photo of former chief election commissioner S.Y. Quraishi. Photo: Priyanka Parashar/MintPremium
A file photo of former chief election commissioner S.Y. Quraishi. Photo: Priyanka Parashar/Mint

Kolkata: To check the misuse of money in the voting process, Election Commission’s writ should begin six months before a poll and pre-election expenditures should also be taken into account, former chief election commissioner S.Y. Quraishi has said.

“They (political parties) know that Election Commission comes down heavily and stops the use of cash so they have started their campaign one year in advance and crores of rupees are spent on posters, banners and others," Quraishi said during the launch of his book “An Undocumented Wonder: The making of the Great Indian Election", in Kolkata late last wee.

“When the elections begin they can be very innocent … with very little money they can fight. But all the money has gone into the elections much before," Quarishi said. “We are working on it. May be we will say that the EC writ should begin six months before or even the pre-election expenditure should also be taken into account," he said.

Describing the misuse of money as a ‘newer problem’ that the EC is trying to deal with, the former CEC said “This is one of the newer problems we are facing. Crime is always ahead of enforcement and come up with new modus operandi, which we are trying to spot and find a solution. I am sure the cat and mouse game will go on and we will find a solution."

To a question whether ponzi scheme scams were playing any role in the elections, Quraishi referred to the EC seizing thousands of crores of rupees during poll time. “Money used in the elections as the root cause of all the corruptions in the country. I have often said this and have written in my book also.

“If you spend crores in fighting your elections you will have to collect crores of rupees. Then when you come to power, you call your bureaucracy and say please I have to return crores of money so start earning for me and for you. So the political and bureaucracy nexus begins and it becomes very very difficult to stop," he observed.

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Published: 22 Dec 2014, 08:08 PM IST
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