The Election Commissionof India,ECI, has asked the Reserve Bank of India ,RBI, to ensure that banking channels are not exploited for bribing voters with cash during the forthcoming polls in five states. The ECI, in its January 12th letter, also reminded the RBI that it has earlier written to the banking regulator after it received similar complaints during the Assembly polls in Tamil Nadu.

The ECI has written to the RBI in the backdrop of a recent incident where the Income Tax department seized from two vans cash of about 12.38 crore rupees reportedly belonging to ICICI Bank after it was intercepted at Delhi's border with Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh.During the same interception on 9th of this month, another 60 lakh rupees cash claiming to be deposited in HDFC Bank was seized by the tax department.

The amounts, suspected not to be conforming to cash movement rules stipulated by RBI, are now under the scrutiny of the I-T department on the directions of the ECI. Five states – Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Manipur, Goa and Uttarakhand – are going to Assembly polls in various phases, beginning 28th of this month.