DEO Samba chairs Bankers meeting on MCC

SAMBA, MARCH 23: District Election Officer, Samba, Abhishek Sharma today chaired Bankers meeting on MCC to ensure smooth conduct of Lok Sabha Elections in the district.

During the meeting, detailed discussions were held on various aspects like facilitation in opening bank accounts by candidates, issuing cheque books, sending suspicious transaction report exceeding Rs.10 lakh, setting up of special counters in the banks, unusual cash transactions, explaining the procedure to be followed for ATM vans ensuring compliance of provisions related to defacement of property.

During the meeting, bankers were also briefed on the utilization of the cVIGIL portal and standard operating procedures (SOPs) to be followed for the seizure of any unidentified cash during the MCC period.

He further emphasized that ahead of forthcoming Lok Sabha elections, Election Commission of India signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) and the Department of Posts (DoP) to step up voter education and awareness efforts. As part of the MoU, IBA and DoP with its members and affiliated institutions/units will display voter education messages prominently on their websites.

Banks will display promotional material in the form of posters, flex and hoarding, providing a touchpoint for election authorities to reach out to voters. The Department of Posts will affix a special cancellation stamp (bearing voter education messages) on the postal articles.

During the meeting, detailed discussions were also held on the procedure for cash remittance between banks, with a mandate for reporting any cash withdrawals exceeding Rs. 10 lakhs to the Election Commission of India (ECI).