Gujarat elections 2017: GCCI petition against poll manual rejected

The Gujarat High Court on Wednesday rejected the petition filed by the Gujarat Chamber of Commerce and Industry challenging the election manual that is empowering Static Surveillance Team (SST) to keep in check the cash transaction.

While rejecting the petition, the first-division bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice Vipul Pancholi concluded that the identical petition is pending before the Supreme Court and, therefore, it can't pass any order on the prayers.

Gujarat Chambers of Commerce and Industry had challenged the Election Commissioner's Expense Manual. The contention of the petitioner was that SOP was violating the fundamental rights of the citizen, and was illegal, ultra vires and interference into once privacy and right to life.

Petitioner's contention was that SST was conducting sudden raids on the premises of traders and encroaching the privacy of people.

It further alleged that apart from cash transactions, the RTGS, through banks, are being tracked and information was being shared with the Income Tax department. That can't be said to be water down the norms.