Indirect taxmen to keep an eye out for attempts to lure voters with non-monetary goods

Indirect taxmen will keep an eye out for a sudden surge in sale of sarees, shirts, caps, masks, scarves, white goods and kitchen items, besides checking e-way bills for their movement during the elections. Also, surprise checks will be done at petrol pumps to ensure that fuel is not used to lure voters.

These are some of the measures included in the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for the field formations of the Central Board of Indirect Taxes & Customs (CBIC), to step up the Preventive Vigilance Mechanism and to prevent flow of suspicious cash, illicit liquor, drugs/ narcotics, freebies and smuggled goods, during the General Election. The 44-day poll exercise has kicked of with the filing of nominations for the first phase of voting. Six more rounds will follow, and counting will take place on June 4.

In July last year, BusinessLine had reported that CBIC was formulating SoPs for the polls. A pilot exercise was undertaken during the assembly polls in Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, and Telangana last year.

In an instruction dated March 23, the indirect tax policy-making body said the Election Commission of India (ECI) has highlighted that the election expenditure monitoring mechanism, with itsthrust on keeping track of the legal expenditure incurred by candidates and the political parties, requires coordination among the various expenditure monitoring teams and the law enforcement agencies. ECI has also expressed concern that smuggled goods/ contraband and other illicit articles may be used to lure voters during the election process, which would need to be checked by the law enforcement agencies, including those of the CBIC.

“Another aspect that would require attention is the use of non-monetary inducements and cash to lure voters, which, too, would need to be checked by keeping a strict vigil on warehouses to prevent the stocking of such goods for distribution,” the instruction said.

With this intention, various measures have been prescribed in the SoPs for taxmen. One such measure says the Directorate-General of Analytics and Risk Management (DGARM) would conduct a special analytical study of items (sarees, shirts, caps, masks, scarves, white goods, kitchen items, etc.) that might be associated with the candidate or political party in the poll-bound assembly or constituency, and could be used as an inducement for votes in the said states. The study should bring out the surge patterns to and within these states, and the movement pattern and place of storage of such goods. These reports would be quickly shared with field officers, who would keep a special watch on movement/ storage/ supply of such goods, it said.

“Pr. DG, DGGI and Pr. Chief Commissioners/ Chief Commissioners of the CGST Zones concerned shall monitor movement of goods such as sarees, shirts, caps, masks, scarves and party flags that might be associated with the candidates or the political party in the poll-bound assembly or constituency, by conducting extensive checking of e-way bills by GST teams at nakas during the elections to ensure that the aforementioned goods are not moved without a proper GST invoice or e-way bill for distribution in the poll-bound area to influence voters,” it said.

A vigil would also maintained at petrol pumps. The SoP said besides keeping an eye on sale of vehicles used for canvassing, distribution of coupon-based fuel to lure prospective voters would also be checked. “Distribution of free petrol/ diesel during elections or on a cash basis is a potential source of luring voters. So random audits of fuel pumps/ filling stations’ stocks can be done during the elections,” it said.

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