Hyderabad: Because of “demand and supply”, distribution of money to lure voters during elections continues to prevail, even though not many voters take money, said CEO Rajat Kumar on Friday. Citing a research paper he said cash is not spent on buying votes but relation building like food, contracts is where money trail goes. He added, “It is recognised fact that money power is most distracting factor in our elections which is not a good thing. Civil societies should play a pivotal role in curbing the menace.”
About Rs 85 crore has been seized in Telangana state. Election Commission has reduced the cash expenditure limit of a contesting candidate to Rs 10,000 per day from the earlier Rs 20,000.
Mr Kumar said that this will help curb his will help curb illegal money flow during the elections. Despising the claims of working in favour of ruling party, he said that about 10-12 senior party karayakarta were given notices but declined to name them.
Speaking about the pink paper which has been criticised by Congress leaders noting that it would influence voters, Mr Kumar said, “We have raised this with Election Comission and they said the pink slip may continue and there is not time to change the rule either. For lok sabha we use white paper while for state elections we use pink since 1950.”
