Abiding by the provisions of the Model Code of
Conduct for ensuring Parliamentary Elections, every Financial activity of any
candidates should be gauged minutely to provide level playing field to all
candidates. It was instructed by the Chief Electoral Officer, Punjab Dr. S.
Karuna Raju today, while Presiding over a meeting of officers and
representatives of various banks working in the state of Punjab, at his office
here.Interacting with bank representatives, the CEO apprised that the Election
Commission of India has framed rules to conduct fair, transparent and peaceful
elections besides giving all candidates and parties level playing field.
"As per the directions of ECI, Several monitoring teams have also been
formed to execute such rules in letter and spirit, which were continuously
working on assigned tasks", he said.Dr. Raju said that the election
expenditure limit for the person interested to contest the elections has been
fixed Rs.70 lac by the Election Commission of India and the candidate has to
spend all this expenditure through the account opened according to the
directives of the Election Commission of India.
Dr. Raju said that Banks should ensure that there
is no difficulty in opening an account as per Election Commission instructions
and every financial activities of already existed bank accounts of the family
members of candidate is being closely monitored.He further said that there is a
large proportion of buyers, who purchases goods through e-commerce companies.
If a candidate or concerned person purchases large number of goods through
online payment, he/she should also be supervised as these goods goods could be
used to allure voters.During meeting, the the Punjab State Coordinator of the
State Level Bank Committee (SLBC) has been appointed nodal officer for
elections to monitor the proper implementation of Model Code of Conduct in the
functioning of banks and to immediately coordinate with banks. He directed to
convene weekly meeting of representatives to assess monitoring and supervision
of the banks.The CEO instructed the officer to erect posters in bank premises
giving details to ferry amount to the general public and expenditure limit for
the candidate during the enforcement of the Model Code of Conduct.