NEW DELHI, Dec 5: The Election Commission has directed the government to stop the release of any more funds under the MPs constituency development fund since the Lok Sabha has been dissolved. Moving into a pre-election mode, the Commission today issued a series of directives to the Centre and state governments, instructing them not to transfer any officials doing poll-related work.A meeting of the full Commission held this morning also decided to send immediate instructions to the prime minister, his Cabinet colleagues and the state chief ministers to ensure that a level playing field is maintained for all candidates.Chief Election Commissioner M S Gill said under the MPs constituency development fund, each MP had been assigned Rs one crore to spend on projects in his constituency. Since there is a possibility that many of the sitting MPs will be contesting the upcoming general elections, such a large sum of money could prove to be an unfair advantage that they will have over other candidates in the fray, he said.The Commission has asked the government not to release any more funds under this scheme and to hold over the money till a new government is in place to decide how best the funds should be spent.Underscoring the Commission's determination to eliminate criminalisation of the political process, and to ``correctly and effectively'' implement Section 8 of Representation of People Act, 1951 which bars persons convicted for specified offences from contesting elections, the EC urged political parties to desist from giving tickets to persons with ``doubtful, shady and unsavoury'' reputations.``We are determined to check criminalisation of politics,'' Election Commissioner GVG Krishnamurty said.The Commission also announced a schedule of separate meetings with the national parties, the regional parties and the chief electoral officers of the state on December 22, 23 and 24 respectively for a dialogue aimed at sorting out the problems that may arise in conducting the polls.``The candidates are the best persons who can tell us about their difficulties in the field ,'' said Gill. However, Gill refused to set a tentative date for the polls saying this would only be done after the publication of the revised electoral rolls on January 5, 1998. But an outside date of March 15 has been set when the new LS would pass a three-month vote on account. Of the vast numbers of public servants involved in the polls, the EC has said that three key categories of officers would not be transferred without the permission EC and that too in exceptional circumstances.
