Strict vigil against money power abuse in polls: EC

Chennai, April 4 (IANS) The Election Commission will maintain a strict vigil against abuse of money power in the April 18 polls for the Lok Sabha and by-elections for 18 assembly constituencies in Tamil Nadu, top officials said on Thursday.

Following review meetings held with political parties, District Electoral Officers, the Income Tax Department, police officials and others, the Chief Election Commissioner Sushil Chandra and Election Commissioner Ashok Lavasa met the media here.

Lavasa said the Election Commission had received a lot of feedback about abuse of money power.

He said the officials have been asked to intensify effective and visible measures to prevent such abuse.

Keeping in view the sensitivity on expenditure related issues, a minimum of two Expenditure Observers per parliamentary constituency have been deployed for keeping strict vigil.

In addition, a Special Expenditure Observer has also been deployed at the state level for Tamil Nadu, the officials said.

The Election Commission also said that Central armed police forces will be deployed in adequate number wherever such a necessity is assessed.

Moreover, adequate CCTV coverage and webcasting in polling stations in sensitive areas will be ensured. All police check-posts across the state will be under 24x7 webcasting and videography for the entire period during the elections, the officials added.

According to the Election Commission, there are a total of 67,720 polling stations at 29,988 polling locations in Tamil Nadu. As many as 1,946 polling stations have been added.