No poll code violation, govt tells EC

In an exhaustive letter to the Election Commission (EC) on Monday afternoon by the Planning Commission — the nodal body that oversees the direct cash transfers — its secretary Sindhushree Khullar details the justification as to why the government is not on the wrong.

The poll body had sought a report from Cabinet Secretary Ajit Seth on why it should not be hauled up for making the announcement at a time when the poll process in Gujarat is underway. “It is submitted that no announcement of any financial grant or a new promise in the nature of a financial benefit has been announced after the coming into force of the model code of conduct on October 3, 2012,” says Khullar’s letter to the EC.

In the process, though, the Planning Commission note clears several notions about the scheme which Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh projected as “game changer” last month.

For starters, it argues that none of the eligible beneficiaries will receive any additional entitlement that he or she is already receiving under identified schemes. There will also be no increase in the number of beneficiaries under the various schemes of the Centre where cash transfers are proposed to be introduced,

... contd.