By- Ajay S Singh[1]
This year (2013) many ICAS officers were deployed as
Expenditure Observer in general elections of Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Madhya
Pradesh, Meghalaya and Rajasthan and in the by-election in Gujarat. These were
held in Nov.-Dec 2013. Election Commission sent letters of deployment for
elections to hundreds of officers from different services and regions. All such
officers were asked to attend one training programme in Vigyan Bhawan to
sensitize about the role of observers and nuances of election process.
No one was aware of actual deployment until reached
the registration counter. An order was made available indicating the
constituency where deployment has been done. There were many who were feeling
lucky for not being picked up and kept in waitlist. Whereas there were many
gloomy faces holding letters of deployment to naxal affected Chhattisgarh area.
I got my deployment letter for Kota district in Rajasthan. It was a pleasant surprise
to get this letter for Kota as it was the place where I had done my village
study during foundation course as probationer. There were apprehensions in the
minds of officers who were going for election duty for the first time, as it
involves many rigid procedures and technicalities and handling them in a new
place with a team of officers who will be working together for the first time.
.JPG)
Down stream Chambal: Jawahar Sagar Dam and rich eco system of Chambal
Expenditure observers were expected to visit the
constituency on the day of notification of elections, hence boarded a train
from New Delhi. After settling down and flipping over the pages of voluminous
guidelines of Election Commission, decided to find out about the movement of
other colleagues. Called up Mr.Avtar Singh Sandhu and to my surprise he was
also travelling in same train alongwith Mr.Taranjit Singh. I also joined them in
their cabin and within no time train crossed the bridge on Chambal River and it
reached Kota railway station. Chambal is life line of this area and entire
river has been declared as eco sensitive as well as protected area. Liaison
Officers had come to receive all of us and we were taken to Circuit House in
Kota. From there, Avtar and Taranjit moved to adjoining Bundi and Baran
districts respectively and I stayed on in Room No.6 which was my office cum
transit accommodation for the entire period of expenditure monitoring.
View of Kota thermal power station's Chimney from Jag Mandir, Kishore Sagar, Kota
Three days of first visit were very hectic as I had
to cover three assembly constituencies which are between 2-3 hrs away from
Kota. To discuss with Returning Officers, Asstt. Expenditure Observers and
Flying Squads, Static Surveillance Teams, Video Viewing Team, Media Monitoring
Team and Accounts Team and assess the preparedness of teams, visited the head
quarters of three constituencies namely, Sangod, Pipalda and Ramganj Mandi.
Teams were activated, doubts cleared (in the process I learnt many things
myself) and strategy formulated. Second visit was more organised as teams were
already in place and knowing their job, by and large. Visit to the
constituencies and inspection of accounts of the candidates made believe that
people are too scared of Election Commission and not many activities were
happening in first few days. Gradually election campaign started picking up.
Our team used to leave for the field by 10-10:30 am with videographer, gunman
and PA, as if going out for hunt. Looking for banners, posters, vehicles
carrying publicity material and looking at the activities carried out by static
surveillance teams, gave an impression as if candidates are playing too safe
and relying on incurring expenditure on elections in such a manner that it is
not noticed by the election teams. Most of the areas of Ramganj Mandi is Kota
stone mines and forests. Famous Mukundarra National Park has its large area
falling under this constituency. Chambal ravines and other ravines of not so
famous rivers like Kali Sindh, Aahoo, Ghoda Pachhad etc make the area difficult
to move around. While going to some villages one will come across deers, black
bucks, peacocks, hundreds of migratory birds and a few lucky ones may also see
panther, tiger and sloth bear. Ramganj Mandi boasts of biggest mandi of
coriander in Asia. Sangod constituency has a huge tract of black buck sanctuary
called Sorsan wildlife sanctuary. It’s a treat to watch herds of deers led by
healthy and proud male black buck with many young ones galloping close to the
group. Nearby villagers do not kill the animals but keep a tight vigil on their
movement towards their fields to ensure that their crops are not damaged. While
going towards Itawa (Hqs of assembly constituency Pipalda), its pleasure to see
hundreds of water birds and migratory birds from Siberia, Mongolia and Chinese
areas. Hundreds of sarus cranes, herons, rosy pelicans, painted storks make the
view of sky or trees totally different and fascinating. A small pond of village
Udpuria has become very famous for providing space and opportunity to migratory
birds to breed.
Migratory birds in Village pond of Udpuriya, near Digoh (Pipalda), Kota
In such a colourful place and surroundings, villages
and towns of these three assembly constituencies looked keen to vote. Candidates
were relying primarily on one to one contact with a good team of supporters.
Expenditure control and maintenance of accounts have been a serious issue
before the candidates. Most of the candidates have assigned the job of
maintaining their accounts to their relatives or lawyers. However most of them
were not very conversant with maintenance of cash books and bank books (which
is required as per the guidelines of EC). Initially it was a tough task to
educate them about maintenance of books and making them comfortable about this
entire exercise. More than 5.2 lacs voters got an opportunity to cast their
vote at their nearest polling booth out 673 booths located in the area. It was
a pleasant surprise to hear about the highest level of integrity of some candidates
fighting election in Sangod. Entire campaign in all three constituencies was
sobre and looked very healthy for any democratic process. Sangod elections were
ideal. There is a need to highlight and propagandise to other places about the
profile of the candidates, their methods of the campaign and true nature of
expenditure incurred by them. It was such a memorable experience to be part of
such massive and important activity of democracy that travel of more than 200
Kms (4-6 hrs) every day was also not a deterrent in carrying on with the job.
Democracy is the best thing our country has. Long live democracy.
Way Forward: Efforts made by EC and states in
conducting elections are praiseworthy. However there is need to improve upon
the expenditure monitoring and accounting of election expenditure of candidates
as well as government. In this mega exercise, all candidates are submitting
their accounts, government creates its own shadow accounts with folder of
evidences. This data is not being used constructively. EC may take a lead and
associate o/o CGA in compilation and analyse of this massive data collected on
election expenditure of all candidates and administration. Currently, this data
is not being used for analyse and research. O/o CGA may take a lead this
activity. Further, accounting software may be provided to all candidates to
make the book keeping much easier. Options of online account uploading and book
keeping may be made available to all candidates. It is strongly felt that
account education needs to be imparted to all candidates and their agents,
hence a help line may also be provided to help out the candidates in
preparation of their accounts.
[1] Ajay S Singh, ICAS is presently working as Dy.
Controller General of Accounts, Ministry of Finance, Government of India
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