The Election Commission notification making it mandatory to open bank accounts in the name of respective candidates has not gone down well with some political parties and leaders,who see this as an additional inconvenience during elections. The account opened at least a day before filing of nomination will mean candidates rushing to bank on being nominated by his or her party. This means the parties will have to finalise candidate in such a way that they get enough time to open a bank account. So,there would no last-minute nominations any longer from this election. The candidates and parties are also unhappy with this diktat because they will have to furnish the account number so opened to the returning officer at the time of filing nomination papers in writing. All election expenditure shall be made by the candidate only from this bank account and all money to be spent on electioneering shall be deposited in this bank account irrespective of its source of funding be it the candidates own fund. A candidate will be required to give a certified copy of the account statement to the DEO along with the statement of the account of expenditure or else face notice. While reservations have been expressed about the short period for opening an account,a professional banker said this should not be a cause of concern with so many branches in a constituency. Suresh Patel,general manager of Dena Bank,said it was not at all difficult to complete the account opening process in a day if one was ready with a photo identity proof and proof of residence. Of course this account is not going to be treated as a no-frills account because of volume of transactions. The candidate will have to meet all the KYC (know your customer) norms,he said. It may look cumbersome to a candidate or his polling agent,who may be a joint account-holder,to do transactions involving payments through account payee cheques. But banks have been urged to prioritise transactions of candidates via such accounts. The bank account can be opened anywhere in the state in any of the banks,including a co-operative bank or a post offices. But an existing account cannot be used for this purpose. Banks and post offices have been asked to run dedicated counters for election purpose for prompt service. What leaves candidates cribbing is the EC instruction to incur all election expenses by crossed account payee cheque from this separate bank account if such amount exceeds Rs 20,000 during the entire process of election. But even amount below Rs 20,000 will have to be first withdrawn from this account. A candidates neglecting these instruction will be treated as not maintaining the account in the manner prescribed,the Commission clarifies. State BJPs legal cell headed by Parindu Bhagat has already sent an email to states chief electoral officer Anita Karwal asking how does the EC expect us to have a bank account ready and activated in a days time when even a cheque book issued by a bank takes at least a week to be delivered. Gujarat Congress president Arjun Modhwadia,however,said his partys stand was very clear that there has to be transparency in election expenditure transactions. We welcome the EC move as this would curb flow of black money in election campaigns, he said.
