AN UNDOCUMENTED WONDER : The Making of the Great Indian Elections

by S.Y. Quraishi

The EC was faced with a legal dilemma. Though the Election Commission is expected to conduct free and fair elections, the law does not provide any expenditure regulation during elections to the Rajya Sabha (Council of States). There is no provision for reporting expenses either by a party or by candidates. However, we could not have closed our eyes to this rampant play of money power. Therefore, we decided to refer the case to the Investigation Directorate of the Income Tax Department in Jharkhand and asked it to keep a close watch on the movement of cash on the eve of elections. The result was immediate. The next day (March 30, 2012), in the wee hours of the morning, I was woken by a phone call, telling me that cash worth 2 crore ($450, 000) had been seized by the Income Tax Department from a vehicle belonging to the son-in-law of an independent candidate.