With elections around the corner, fair polls get top priority

ELECTIONS \\ The Election Commission of India (ECI) announced the dates for the upcoming Assembly elections in five states — Uttar Pradesh, Goa, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Manipur. A code of conduct has also been implemented in these states. Elections in Uttar Pradesh will take place in seven phases, given the size of the state and the number of constituencies. The first phase of UP elections starts on February 4, while the last phase will be conducted on February 28, and votes will be counted on March 4. The decision to hold the elections in seven phases has been welcomed by all parties. Another move that has set many tongues wagging was the ECI's decision to cover elephant statues all across UP. This decision has been criticised by the BSP, but has received appreciation from all the opposition parties. Punjab and Uttarakhand’s elections will be held on January 30 and Manipur and Goa will enter the electoral phase on January 28 and March 3, respectively. As the states prepare for the upcoming elections, a lot of pressure has been laid on them by the ECI to conduct “free and fair” elections. This is more so in the wake of specific intelligence reports, according to which money is entering the state of Uttar Pradesh through the hawala channels from West Asia. (Hawala is the illegal transfer of money into or out of the country.) According to ECI officials, money from Saudi Arabia and Dubai is being routed through illegal channels into constituencies such as Aligarh, Gorakhpur, Saharanpur, Meerut and Muzaffarnagar. However, the money coming in is not for any one party, but for most of them. Soon after the intelligence report came in, the state police department, the income tax department, Directorate of Revenue Intelligence and all border security forces were informed — a total sum of `35 crore has been caught in the state so far. In the country’s biggest state with a total of 403 constituencies, 700 battalions of security forces have been deployed in UP to curb the influence of illicit money. Despite all the vigilance, political analysts believe that this note-for-vote politics will affect the outcome of the upcoming polls. Usually the money laundering begins two weeks ahead of the polls but this time it has begun a good 25 days ahead of the set date. Every party has now started working on its election campaign in earnest. According to the statistics of the declared assets of the Chief Ministers of various states of the country, Mayawati is richest. Her total declared assets are worth `87.27 crore, which, according to her, have been donated by her followers. Interestingly, this figure alone is greater than the sum of the declared assets of the top 10 richest Chief Ministers in the country.