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| EC acts tough against PDD defaulters | | ‘Candidates can contest elections only after clearing dues’ | | Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Mar 18: In a major setback for political parties, the Election Commission has decided to debar politicians from contesting elections who are defaulters of Power Development Department.
The Power Development Department last month came up with two lists of its defaulters in the state, threatening them with electricity disconnection while disclosing the names of politicians, top businessmen, telecom firms and security installations.
The first one consisted of those who owe Rs 1-2 lakh to the department, while the second one has the names of those defaulters who have pending arrears of over Rs 5 lakh. There are several politicians in the list. According to PDD, former deputy chief minister and senior BJP leader Kavinder Gupta owes over 14 lakh as electricity charges to the department.
Former BJP minister Sukhnandan Choudhary owes over Rs 19 lakh to the PDD. A firm registered in the name of businessman-turned-politician Irfan Ansari, who joined Peoples Conference led by Sajad Gani Lone recently, has been shown as defaulting on payment of energy bill of Rs 52 lakh.
PDP leader and former Hazratbal MLA Aasiya Naqash has an outstanding amount of Rs 13.66 lakh as electricity bill at her residence and a sum of Rs 29.80 lakh against her security installations. Some of the government departments and public sector undertakings too have emerged as big defaulters.
PDD officials said the total outstanding amount against those named in the publicised list is around Rs 100 crore in Kashmir division only.
Former Congress MLC Abdul Gani Vakil, who has joined Peoples Conference led by Sajad Lone has an outstanding of more than Rs 4.2 lakh while National Conference leader Nazir Ahmad Gurezi owes 50,620 to the PDD.
The department also served asking the defaulters to clear their dues within two weeks or face disconnection.
Source in Election Commission of India said it has been decided not to allow politicians to contest polls, who are defaulters of power development department. "Those who want to contest polls have to get the NOC from various departments including the Power Development Department. Those who fail to clear the dues will be debarred from contesting the polls," an official said. The official said that politicians have already be made aware about this. "They have to get the NOC from various departments to clear bills," the official added. |
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