Election Commission deploys hundreds of ‘return preparers’

The unique module is called the Election Commission Return Preparers (ECRP) scheme and will be available in each district of the four states (West Bengal, Assam, Tamil Nadu and Kerala) and the Union Territory of Puducherry going to polls, beginning April 4. 

The ECRPs’ exclusive task is to assist candidates in e-filing of affidavits and abstract statements of expenditure made during polls. In order to popularise the scheme and make it easy for contestants, the EC has decided to bear all expenses for the services rendered by the preparers.

Officials said the EC will pay Rs 1,200 to the ECRPs for services rendered by them to one candidate. The novel scheme has been borrowed from a similar mechanism developed by the IT department in 2006-7 called the Tax Return Preparer Scheme (TRPS). 

It seeks to assist small and marginal taxpayers in preparing and filing their IT returns, at times complicated due to multiple documentation, by charging a nominal fee. Officials said while a total of 111 such ECRPs have been deployed in West Bengal, in Kerala a private institute which had trained TRPs for the tax department has been tasked with the job, while similar arrangements have been made for Assam, Tamil Nadu and Puducherry. 

“The EC will bear the expenses of Rs 1,200 for each such preparer. The scheme is aimed to ensure quick and error-free filing of affidavits and post-poll expenditure statements,” an official said.