Notes ban did not reduce black money used in elections, says OP Rawat, ex-chief election commissioner

On Dec 3, 2018

NP NEWS 24 ONLINE –Outgoing Chief Election Commissioner OP Rawat said demonetisation had “absolutely no impact” on black money. Rawat said the poll panel seized a “record amount” of money during elections.

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

Appointed Chief Election Commissioner in January this year, OP Rawat has had a busy tenure, conducting nearly nine state elections in less than a year. Besides, his term also saw the Election Commission being dragged into controversies — from questions over the delay in the press conference to announce dates for Assembly elections to five states in October, to allegations of deletion of voters in a Delhi constituency by the Aam Aadmi Party. A retired 1977- batch MP-cadre IAS officer, Rawat hands over charge to the new CEC, Sunil Arora, today.

Days before his term ended on 1 December, Rawat counted curbing the influence of money on elections as one of the key thrust areas for the commission. In an interview, he had underlined that every penny going to political parties as donations should be accounted for.

The Election Commission chief 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 giants including 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 platforms.”