The Election Commission (EC) has appointed two retired Indian Revenue Service (IRS) officials as Special Expenditure Observers for the coming Bihar Assembly polls.
Madhu Mahajan is a 1982-batch IRS official, while B.R. Balakrishnan is from the 1983 batch. The Special Expenditure Observers, in consultation with the Chief Electoral Officer of Bihar, will supervise and monitor the work being done by the electoral machinery. They will ensure that stringent and effective enforcement action is taken based on intelligence inputs and complaints received through the cVIGIL mobile application and voter helpline 1950, against all the persons or entities trying to induce voters by distributing cash, liquor and freebies.
Mahajan was earlier appointed as a Special Expenditure Observer for Tamil Nadu and Karnataka during the Lok Sabha elections in 2019 and for the Maharashtra Assembly polls the same year. Balakrishnan was also appointed as a Special Expenditure Observer for by-election to the Huzurnagar assembly constituency in Telangana in 2019.