‘Cash Transfers May Be Used To Sway Voters’: EC Asks Karnataka To Put Off Loan Waiver Payments Till 2019 LS Polls

Election Commission (EC) has stayed the farm loan waiver scheme of Janata Dal (Secular)-Congress coalition government in Karnataka, reports The Hindu. The temporary ban is enforced on account of model code of conduct post announcement of 2019 Lok Sabha elections.

EC has said that the scheme entails cash transfers which could be used to sway the voters before the polls. Therefore, the EC has asked the state government to postpone payments till the election process is completed.

The EC rendered the direction after the state government sought its opinion over the issue. The scheme entails waiving crop loan up to Rs 1 lakh in cooperative banks and Rs 2 lakh in commercial banks.

So far, about 25 per cent to 30 per cent of the anticipated loan waiver amount had been disbursed by the government, The Hindu quoted its sources. Following the EC directive, loans in the cooperative sector, worth about Rs 1,500 crore, which were due for renewal in March and April, will be delayed.