The Election Commission of India (ECI) former director general (expenditure monitoring) P.K. Dash said the ECI had devised a framework under his aegis to face the challenge of abuse of money power when the need for enabling provisions was not envisaged in the Representation of People Act as well as the Indian Penal Code (IPC).
The ECI could have created greater deterrence by building on that legacy but it remained a missed opportunity for the nation and democracy, he lamented.
Delivering the keynote address at a roundtable meeting on the topic ‘Free and fair elections - Challenges and corrupt practices’ organised by the Citizens for Democracy (CfD) here on Saturday, Mr. Dash recalled four cases where successful candidates were disqualified, two of them the Chief Ministers of Jharkhand and Maharashtra. Even now, post-election, evidence-based money trail of corrupt practices could make a difference in elections, he observed and expressed serious concern over the proliferation of social media which posed a great challenge.
