EC appoints 22 IRS officers as expenditure observers for Delhi polls

The Election Commission (EC) has appointed 22 IRS officers of the Income-Tax Department as expenditure observers for the forthcoming Assembly polls in Delhi, officials said on Thursday. The observers will be tasked with checking the use of black money and other illegal inducements during the election process.

These officials have been called for their first briefing by the central poll-panel on January 14 here. The EC has directed the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) to relieve these officers from their regular charge so that they can be put on poll duty, they said.

The CBDT is the policy-making body for the tax department. These 22 officers of the Indian Revenue Service (IRS) will be deployed in various Assembly constituencies of Delhi as part of the EC's overall mechanism to ensure a level-playing field for candidates and voters, a senior official said.

The CBDT has been also directed to ensure that its investigation wing in Delhi and adjoining states should deploy extra measures to check physical and electronic movement of suspected funds across the borders of state and the national capital region (NCR). The I-T has also been asked to beef up its air intelligence unit at the Delhi airport to check movement of funds, he said, adding it will work in close coordination with the Financial Intelligence Unit (FIU) to check movement of funds through banking channels.

Assembly elections for the seventy seats of the state will be held on February 8 that will witness a triangular contest among the ruling AAP, the BJP and the Congress. The results are scheduled to be declared on February 11.

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