TN: Prohibitory Orders from 6 PM Today to Stop Money Distribution

, March 22: Perhaps for the first time in Indian political history, the district collectors of

have been asked to implement prohibitory orders from 6 pm today to avoid last minute money distribution.

"The campaign ends at 6 PM. We have asked Collectors to proclaim (orders under) Section 144 Cr.PC till 6 AM on April 24th, the polling day," Chief Electoral Officer (CEO) Praveen Kumar said.

On enquiring why the authorities decided on clamping such prohibitory orders, Kumar informed that it was "based on the general feedback on money distribution", apart from preventing law and order problems.

While Tamil Nadu is not the only state to enforce this law, the officer also named Karnataka . He further said that the EC had come across a similar experience in 2011 Assembly elections and had learnt from these situations.

Over 2.93 lakh polling officials and security forces, including central security forces, will be deployed during polling day, he said.

Appealing for a free and fair vote, he said voters should arrive with electoral photo identity cards, other documents including passport, passbooks of banks and post offices with photos, PSU I-D cards, PAN, Aaadhaar and NPR card could also do for identification.

Till date, close to Rs 50 crore have been recovered, following the implementation of model code of conduct, including a recent raid of Rs 94 lakh at Tiruvannamalai.

Moreover, close to 2,835 cases have been registered over the violation of model code of conduct.

OneIndia News