HYDERABAD: For the conduct of ensuing State Legislative Assembly polls, the state government has released an amount of Rs 275 crores to the Telangana Chief Electoral Office department to meet the expenditure towards holding the elections, Telangana Chief Electoral Officer, Rajat Kumar said.
However, the total poll expenditure is not going to be incurred entirely by the state government, he said and added that the Election Commission of India (ECI) will take care the responsibility on procurement and testing of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs), Voter Verifiable Paper Audit Trail (VVPATs). Separate budget for police will also be provided while the Union Ministry of Home Affairs will take care of poll-related security arrangements by sending Central Forces like paramilitary forces and other security forces for peaceful conduct of polls and maintaining law and order law, Rajat Kumar said.
In view of the proposed polls in Telangana, the CEO department with the help of the Income Tax department would monitor high-value transactions in banks as part of attempts to check illegal flow of money. The exercise would continue till the model code of conduct was in force in the state. A high-level team from the ECI which recently visited the state capital had held series of meetings including office of the Principal Chief Commissioner of the Income Tax of Telangana on monitoring bank transactions.
Currently it is being tracked through the IT department. If there are violations or if need be, we will collect the data from banks and initiate further action, he added.
To create awareness of EVMs and VVPATs among voters and other stakeholders, mobile vans with mock polling booths will move in different parts of the state including Hyderabad. Through mock polling, staff will explain about the functioning of EVMs, VVPATs and answer any questions raised by them voting machines. He said that the mobile vans would visit every ward in every panchayat, towns, ULBs.