Former CEC OP Rawat: Demonetisation failed to curb use of black money in elections

Outgoing Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat said demonetisation had “absolutely no impact” on black money, he told in an interview to The Indian Express reported on Sunday December 2. He also discussed other issues that have emerged prior to polls which have acted as constraints to conduct of free and fair elections.

Rawat also told that “the note ban did not reduce black money used in elections, in fact Compared to previous elections, there were more seizures of cash in the some states”

Rawat said the poll panel seized a “record amount” of money during the recent elections.

“Even in [Assembly] elections to these five states [Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Telangana and Mizoram], amount seized have been close to ₹ 200 crores,” Rawat said. “It shows that money during elections is coming from sources which are very influential and are not affected by such measures.”

In another interview to ANI he said “It seems political class and their financiers have no dearth of money. Money used in this manner, is generally black money. As far as black money used in election is concerned, there was no check on it.”

Rawat’s statement refutes Indian PM Narendra Modi’s claim that the decision to scrap ₹500 and₹ 1,000 notes in November 2016 would help in reducing use of black money, and misuse of the money in elections, among other things.

Rawat demitted office on Saturday. Sunil Arora will take over as the new chief election commissioner on Sunday. The counting of votes for Assembly elections in five states will take place on December 11.

On another controversial issue like the move to replace Mizoram Chief Electoral Officer SB Shashank, Rawat made shocking revelations of governments arbitrary decisions

Rawat mentioned that the panel’s verdict to replace Mizoram Chief Electoral Officer SB Shashank following a protest in the state was a “big example of how big campaigns can turn the tables, even if there is no fault of yours”.

Earlier in November Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla had written to PM Modi and Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh to demand Shashank’s removal for his alleged role in the transfer of Principal Home Secretary L Chuaungo. On Thursday,November 15, the panel removed Shashank from his post after representatives of civil society organisations in the poll-bound state met a delegation of the election panel to demand his removal.

The Election Commission chief also raised his concern on a new-found threat to electoral polls. He said social media is a “potent threat” to free and fair elections across the globe.

The Indian government has discussed these concerns with social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, he said. “All of them have assured us that during the election campaign period, they will ensure that their platforms do not affect the polls adversely, and that they will flag advertisements, names of sponsors, money paid for advertisements,” Rawat told the newspaper. “Also, during the last 48 hours before the conclusion of the polls, called the ‘silence period’, they will not allow anything adverse on their platform

However in Karnataka elections the mobile application launched, helped voters report any violations of code of conduct. Through the application, the photo or video (of any violation) taken by a voter could be sent directly to the inbox of the returning officer or the district election officer concerned, who could then immediately verify the complaint, take action and respond within 100 minutes. In Bengaluru, we got 800 complaints. This time, during elections in the five states, we received nearly 7,000 complaints, of which 4,000 were verified and action was taken. This has given voters a lot of confidence