Bihar Assembly poll expenditure 'scam' haunts DMs

The State Election Commission (SEC) has directed all District Magistrates to verify the bills submitted by contractors and clear the dues of only those bills which are found to be correct.

Patna: Bihar Assembly polls held in October-November last year has begun haunting the District Magistrates (DMs) in the state as the exorbitant bills with regard to poll expenses have started pouring in.

It has reminded them of the state’s famous fodder scam in which a number of bureaucrats and politicians including former Chief Ministers Jagannath Mishra and Lalu Prasad Yadav were also implicated and even jailed.

The State Election Commission (SEC) has directed all DMs to verify the bills submitted by contractors and clear the dues of those bills which are found to be correct.

The bills which are exorbitant will be verified and only then the payment will be made.

The Chief Electoral Officer HR Srinivas said that “141 Battalions of central paramilitary forces came to Bihar during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. There were 1200 Battalions of central paramilitary forces in the state to conduct assembly elections. The soldiers were camping in the Naxal-affected districts for a long time. There was also expenditure on postal ballots. Due to all these expenses, the actual bills are bound to be on the higher side."

He further said that he has instructed the DMs of all the districts for timely payment to the contractors who have given the correct bills.

"The contractors who worked during the elections should be paid on time. It should not happen that there is a delay in payment of the correct bills and due to this one moves to the court," the Srinivas added.

"The expenses have not been much in the elections. Some contractors have given unexpectedly high expenditure vouchers. In the last election too, there was this kind of problem. Some vendors submit bills, which are exaggerated. It will be investigated. We have work cards with us. The photos and videos will also show how much tents and canopy the contractor was put in place. Details of this will be verified. The correct expenditure will be paid on time," the officer added.

In fact, the expenditure in the assembly elections held in 2020 has increased by 10–12 per cent as compared to the Lok Sabha elections held in 2019.

The Election Commission and the district administrations were anticipating an increase in spending due to the corona crisis, but the bills which have been submitted from districts have left the officials shocked.

They are not able to digest how so much expenses could be incurred during the polls.

It is worth stating here that multiple surprising stories were surfacing with each passing day during the fodder scam.

There were entries in which fodder and buffaloes were shown transported on the bicycle.

The wrong details of vehicles were entered into the bills. Instead of giving the number of trucks, the bills were carrying the numbers of bikes.

In the same way, the two-wheeler numbers were used to claim the benefit of four-wheelers used in the assembly polls held three months ago.

Not only this, several bills have shown the use of hundreds of litres of diesel in bikes while performing the election duty during the polls.

It is worth noting that in the assembly elections, the private contractors had been tasked to arrange lodging and food facilities for security forces personnel.

It was their job to bring them to the booth and make all other arrangements for them.

After the elections, the contractors were supposed to submit the expenses bills to the district administration, after which they are given the money.

The contractors have submitted their expenditure bills to the district administrations and now they are demanding payment.

After examining the bill by the district administration, it was found that many contractors have given the bills but exaggeratedly.

SHOCKERS FROM EAST CHAMPARAN

For 12 assembly seats in East Champaran, the contractors have submitted bills at the rate of Rs 21 crore per seat.

The district administration had expected that the total expenditure for an assembly seat would not exceed Rs 3 crores even if the expenses have gone up due to the pandemic as compared to the Lok Sabha elections. The district administration is investigating all these bills now.

BIKES AS FOUR WHEELERS

When the audit team of the district administration investigated these bills, many frauds have been detected.

Instead of the number of four-wheelers used in the election work, the number of bikes was shown in the bills.

INCREASE IN EXPENSES DUE TO PANDEMIC

Srinivas said it was estimated that the assembly election would cost more as compared to the Lok Sabha elections.

He said spending increased due to the COVID crisis AS 50 per cent more polling stations were set up. Health tool kits were also purchased to prevent the spread of coronavirus infection and more tents had to be installed.