Bihar polls: Election Commission conducts workshop on black money surveillance

NEW DELHI: The Election Commission has conducted a workshop for nodal officers who will be deployed for keeping a check on the flow of black money and other illegal inducements during the forthcoming Assembly elections in Bihar.

The one-day workshop, held yesterday, was addressed by Chief Election Commissioner ( CEC) Nasim Zaidi where he emphasised the need of proper implementation of the Standard Operating Procedures meant for the flying squads, static surveillance teams and police officers who will be deployed under the election expenditure monitoring charter of the EC in the state.

Director General (Expenditure) P K Dash also addressed these officers drawn from the police, state excise and the Income Tax department and briefed them about the protocols of the surveillance and vigil mechanism to be deployed by these teams while ensuring that general public is not put to inconvenience.

"The day-long workshop also discussed the need of involvement and coordination of various agencies in intelligence sharing and effective monitoring of election expenditure during the polls period," an EC official said.

The officials who had come from the office of the Bihar Chief Electoral Officer also briefed the EC about their preparations while some officials who had conducted these exercises in some other states in the past shared their experiences, the official said.

The 243-member Bihar Assembly is expected to go to polls in October-November and the full EC led by CEC Zaidi is expected to travel to the state on August 7-8 to oversee preparations in this regard.