Uttar Pradesh: Around 1,700 Jan Dhan accounts under scanner for suspicious deposits ahead of elections

About 1,700 Jan Dhan bank accounts in Uttar Pradesh's Moradabad district have come under the scanner of the Election Commission-deployed surveillance teams for receiving suspicious deposits during the poll season, officials said.

They said about ₹10,000 each, totalling about ₹1.7 crore, have been deposited in these accounts over the past few days and the instances have come under the scanner of investigative and intelligence agencies for possible abuse by political candidates as bribe to voters.

The Income Tax department has launched an investigation into the issue, along with other agencies deployed to check black money and illegal inducements to voters during the ongoing polls in the country.

The EC has sought a report from the agencies and they have informed it that the bank concerned in Moradabad district of Uttar Pradesh has been asked for a report and preliminary inputs suggest the money was deposited by banking correspondents, they said.

The next level of probe is on, the officials said, adding it could be a case of some government scheme money or funds being deposited in these accounts.

The Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) was launched on August 28, 2014, with an aim to provide universal access to banking facilities for all households.

The government had said that it aims for financial inclusion and to ensure access to financial services — banking/savings and deposit accounts, remittance, credit, insurance, pension.

The Election Commission (EC) has deployed a large team of expenditure monitoring observers in all the constituencies to keep a check on illegal cash and other inducements to voters during the polls.

The teams, tasked to ensure a level-playing field for all the candidates trying their luck at the hustings, are being supported by the intelligence and enforcement setups of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT), Customs department, the Intelligence Bureau, the Financial Intelligence Unit and the Enforcement Directorate.

The seven phase Lok Sabha polls will begin from April 11 and the counting of votes will take place on May 23.