Lok Sabha Elections: General elections have started. The first phase of voting has already taken place. The second phase of voting is next Friday. In this election, the Reserve Bank has written a letter to the candidates or political parties not to use the means of online payment to bribe the voters.
Mumbai: The country’s Central Bank i.e. Reserve Bank of India has given a big responsibility on non-bank payment operators or online payment companies. The Reserve Bank has asked these online companies to monitor and report high value merchant payments during the ongoing general elections. This is so that any attempt to buy votes with money can be stopped.
What has the Reserve Bank written?
In a letter dated April 15, 2024, the Reserve Bank has asked Payment System Operators (PSOs) to prevent possible misuse of the e-fund transfer system to influence voters or indirectly give money to election candidates. It has been said in the letter that various methods of payment can be used to influence voters. It is possible that a candidate or political party may transfer money to the voters online so that the voter votes in favor of a particular candidate.
Regulate high value payments
Senior officials say that payment companies should especially track high value payments or suspicious payments. Also, recurring person to person payments can also be brought under the ambit of investigation. It is noteworthy that PSO includes networks like Visa, MasterCard and RuPay. Along with this, fintech companies like Razorpay, Cashfree, CCAvenue and Mswipe are all regulated payment aggregators. Other companies serving the market like Paytm, PhonePe, BharatPe and MobiKwik are mobile wallet license holders.
Cited the Election Commission’s concerns
The Central Bank in its directive has cited the concerns raised by the Election Commission of India. It has also asked payment companies to track suspicious transactions and report them to the relevant authorities. It is noteworthy that historically the prevalence of cash has increased during elections. RBI has generally instructed banks to keep an eye on the movement of cash.
Popularity of online payment is increasing
At present, the popularity of online payment is increasing to such an extent that people make online payment even in rituals like Shagun. Nowadays, even beggars keep this type of QR code pasted on their bowl or begging utensil for begging. That’s why considering the popularity of Unified Payment Interface (UPI) and card payments, the regulator wants these channels to also be monitored. When monitoring is done from here also, those who misuse it will be scared.
