Paying heed to the traders’ plight, Chief Electoral Officer Praveen Kumar on Monday directed flying squad members to be ‘humane’ and not to seize money without proper enquiry.
The total amount of unaccounted money seized in the State stood at Rs 12,58,53,924 apart from sarees, jewellery and other articles accounting for an additional amount of Rs 6,47,33,990 as of Monday morning.
“District Election Officers are requested to ensure that the squads strictly follow the standard operating procedure and do not indulge in a rude or an extortionary manner. If sufficient proof is provided by the businessman concerned, squad members should release the money without harassing the owner,” the CEO said in an official release. The CEO clarified that in case of an amount of above Rs 10 lakh, the Income Tax nodal officer has to be informed. In case of traders carrying money for their business, their background check must be done by the squad members, the CEO said.
NOTA on EVMs
The EVMs to be used in Tamil Nadu for the ensuing Lok Sabha elections would have None of the Above (NOTA) option. The NOTA button would be the last button in the EVM. i.e., the words
None of the Above would be printed in the name panel after the name of the last candidate. The Tamil version of NOTA would also be there.