NE NEWS SERVICE
CHENNAI, MAR 8
Suspicious transactions through banks and those made using Unified Payments Interface based apps were being monitored to prevent inducement to voters and ensure fair assembly polls in Tamil Nadu on April 6, state Chief Electoral Officer, Satyabrata Sahoo said on Monday. Addressing a press conference here, he said the EC was watchful about payments through Google Pay or other UPI based transfers. All kinds of suspicious bank transactions would be monitored.
On the DMK”s promise of Rs 1,000 monthly payout to women family heads if it came to power, he said poll assurances were in the domain of political parties and the EC would step in only if there was objection on grounds of violation of model code of conduct.
Replying to a question, he said all electronic voting machines to be used in the poll were ”M3 Mark,” the latest, and since 2017 Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail machines were being used.
On cash seizures, he said there was no bar on anyone possessing or travelling with currency upto Rs 50,000 and if the amount exceeded they should have appropriate supporting documents, he said.
Be it movement of cash for ATMs or banking purposes, the guidelines should be followed, he said.
Cumulatively, seizures worth Rs 32.03 crore had so far been made. Of this, Rs 23.75 crore was in cash, Rs 21.57 lakh worth liquor, gold valued at about Rs 6.53 crore (15.22 kg) and silver worth Rs 77 lakh (129 kg), the CEO added.
