Indian banks are readying to deploy extra staff to comply with an Election Commission (EC) of India diktat asking for daily reports on suspicious transactions through the entire election season, three top bankers told Moneycontrol. Chief Election Commissioner (CEC) Rajiv Kumar said on March 16 that all banks will have to report suspicious transactions to the poll panel.
"Tracing of suspicious transactions in banks is already done by the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) and periodically we send the data on this to the FIU–India set up by the government of India. After the comments from the Election Commission of India, our staff will remain more vigilant towards suspicious transactions and reporting them to the ECI," said a senior official at a state-owned bank, who did not want to be named.
Another official, who also requested anonymity, said: “We are obviously looking at being more cautious and vigilant on the ECI's orders. We have some extra checks in place. Additionally, this week, we will have meetings to discuss the need to deploy special teams for this.”
A former official at a private bank said that banks may look at adding more personnel to track the suspicious transactions. "Banks may add more personnel to track suspicious transactions on a daily basis after the instruction by the ECI to report them on a daily basis. Usually, during the election period, such transactions become important and reporting to the ECI will be of great help to them stop unlawful activities," the official said.
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According to experts, banks are asked by the EC to submit transaction reports during elections. “Banks have to report transactions which look suspicious or are of large amounts during elections to the EC,” said Rajnish Kumar, former chairman, State Bank of India (SBI).
Today, Income Tax Department in a release said that the process of Loksabha General Elections, 2024 has begun all over India. In view of the same the Income Tax Department, Pune has setup a control room to monitor and curb the misuse of money power during the said elections.
The control room will be functioning 24 hours a day, seven days a week (24x7), release added.
Election process
On March 16, while addressing the press conference announcing the 2024 general elections in New Delhi, CEC Kumar said that banks will have to see if there is huge demand in the currency chests. “NPCI will look at whether there are more demands for payments through wallets. We will be looking at all wallet transactions. Banks will be sending almost daily reports of suspicious transactions. This is part of the steps from the poll body to curb the impact of money power and ensure fair elections," he said.
Kumar also added that the EC is aware that there are different vulnerabilities in different states. “Some have way greater muscle problems, greater money problems, etc. thus, our solutions are also differential. Empowered agencies and entities like NPCI, GST, banks will track suspicious transactions," said Kumar.
Additionally, the EC, in a presentation, said that no movement of cash in bank vehicles will be permitted after sunset. “There will be surveillance and inspection of non-scheduled chartered flights and route chart for flow of cash/liquor/drugs ... as part of effective coordination and live tracking for seizures," it said in the presentation.
“Subsequently, the ECI has directed banks not to move cash in bank vehicles post sunset during this period. We will restrict the misuse of money during the election with the help of all enforcement agencies,” Kumar added.
The 2024 Lok Sabha elections will be held over seven phases from April 19 to June 1 and counting of votes will take place on June 4, the Election Commission announced at a media briefing in the national capital last week.
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During the briefing, Kumar also announced that assembly elections will be held in Andhra Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim in a single phase, while Odisha will vote in three phases.
"Assembly polls will take place in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim on April 19 while Andhra Pradesh will vote on May 13. Three-phase phase elections will take place in Odisha on May 13, May 20 and May 25. There are as many as 97 crore eligible voters in India, of which 1.8 crore will be first-time voters. And 10.5 lakh polling stations will be set up for the elections with 1.5 crore polling officials and security staff, 55 lakh EVMs, and 4 lakh vehicles," he said.
In 2019, the Lok Sabha Elections were held over seven phases from April 11 to May 19. The results were declared on May 23.
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