EC directs all States, UTs to generate local Intelligence Units
The Chief Electoral Office of Delhi may seek the services of private detective agencies to keep a tab on illegal flow of liquor and black money during election in the Capital. Having realised that money and liquor might be used to woo voters, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has recently directed all States and Union Territories to generate local Intelligence Units (lIUs) and also hire or employ trained personnel for the purpose. In a communiqué to all State Electoral Officers of the States and Union Territories, the ECI insisted that State administration keep an eye on the flow of liquor and black money and generate actionable Intelligence to curb the menace and rein in those involved in electoral malpractices.
Top sources told The Pioneer that the ECI has directed to set up local Intelligence Units from its own sources or hire a private spy to keep eye on polling booths that have been identified as expenditure sensitive. There are 263 polling stations in the Capital that have been identified thus.
While briefing the formation of lIUs, the Chief Electoral Officer Vijay Dev said that these groups would be the eyes and ears of the Election Commission to keep a check on the flow of liquor, black money during the lok Sabha polls. “These local Intelligence Units shall have 5-10 members with at least one or two women. The members of the group should be identified by the sector officers and police officers, either jointly or separately, who will verify their non-political antecedents before forming the group and send a report to the Returning Officer,” the communiqué said.
“To encourage collection of evidences of malpractices and inform the election officials or to the complaint monitoring cell, any member of the group or any citizen can even upload photos, videos, audios of malpractices, collected during election process to the control room through web link. This group shall not directly take any action against any malpractices and it should only inform the district complaint monitoring centre opened for the purpose,” the communiqué said.