Black money to come under IT scanner in polls

SHILLONG: Aimed at checking use of black money in the Lok Sabha polls, the Income Tax Department has deputed over 100 officers to arrest the trend of use of money power.
Kavita Jha, the principal chief commissioner of Income Tax, North East Region (NER), has deputed additional 116 officers and inspectors of Income Tax Department to the Directorate of Income Tax (Investigation) for the upcoming Lok Sabha elections.
Early on Tuesday, the investigation wing of NER has issued deployment orders for 157 officials who will spread over Assam, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland and Tripura to monitor election expenditure and flow of black money across 112 districts.
The chief electoral officers of seven states of North East have been officially intimated about the deployment.
An official statement in this regard said the deployment is under the directions of the Election Commission of India to the Central Board of Direct Taxes in a bid to check the flow of black money to influence elections “since black money vitiates the purity of election process”, according to ECI.
“The Investigation Directorate teams will monitor movement of large sums of cash or other items suspected to be used for bribing electors and on the basis of information or complaint, they will conduct independent enquiry against any person indulging in such acts.
“They will also verify affidavits declaring assets and liabilities filed by the candidates before ECI and election expenses by any candidate or political party,” the statement said.
Donations, tax exemptions
The Investigation Directorate will also report to the Commission about the political parties which are taking donations and enjoying tax exemptions in the poll-bound states without filing the statutory returns.
According to the Income Tax Department, the banks are also required to pass on information about withdrawal of more than Rs 10 lakh to the nodal officer of the Directorate, Subhrajyoti Bhattacharjee, who is the Additional Director of Income Tax (Investigation), NER.
Air intelligence units
The directorate has also activated air intelligence units at all airports in the North East and will monitor movement of cash or valuables.
“State authorities and police are also required to report movement of any suspicious cash to the I-T authorities and in this regard, the Principal Director of Income Tax (Investigation) for NER Sanjay Bahadur (IRS) has issued instructions for heightened surveillance and intelligence gathering during elections,” the statement said.
The Investigation Directorate authorities can enter and search any building, place, vessel or aircraft if it is suspected that any unaccounted money, bullion, jewellery or other valuable article is to be found there and seize the same under Section 132 of the Income Tax Act, the statement added.