Chief Electoral Office keeps a tab on sale of goods ahead of Goa polls
The task force will have officials from Income tax (IT), Narcotics, Customs, Excise, commercial and others. (File/Reuters) The task force will have officials from Income tax (IT), Narcotics, Customs, Excise, commercial and others. (File/Reuters)
Ahead of the State legislative assembly elections, Goa’s Chief Electoral Office (CEO) has kept an eye on sale of bikes, electronics and household goods, which could probably be used to win over vulnerable voters. “The CEO in its order issued to State Commercial Taxes department has directed that the sale of bikes, electronic and household items of more than Rs 5,000 each should be strictly monitored,” a senior official from CEO office told PTI on Monday.
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To avoid the possibile misuse of money power to garner votes, the CEO is in the process to set up a multi-disciplinary task force which will be working at the State, district and constituency level.
The task force will have officials from Income tax (IT), Narcotics, Customs, Excise, commercial and others.
“It is not just cash, in a place like Goa, there are large transactions of merchandise and hence we will issue directions to traders to report to the task force if it comes across some large orders of any goods,” a senior official said.
Working at micro-level, CEO has also directed police to enumerate those engaged in distribution of milk, newspaper, fish, bread and vegetables besides clear instructions on avoiding action as conduit for any cash or kind distribution.
The liquor outlets too are under scanner.
The Excise department is asked to keep watch on bars and liquor stores selling on chits.
“Directions are given to caution the bar owners and liquor sale distributors informing them about the election directions and the implications if they are violated,” the official said.
The Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed the Chief Electoral Office (CEO) to remove all the political advertisements displayed on public spaces, government properties and private lands, once election dates are announced.
The Commission has directed CEO to wipe out all the political hoardings, banners, flags and write-ups on government property within 24 hours, on public spaces in 48 hours and in private land within 72 hours from the day of announcement of election date.
The ECI has also said that there would be complete ban on use of official vehicle by any political party, candidate or any other person connected with elections (political parties) for campaigning or election related travel.