Election Commission proposal for reducing cash expenditure limit for candidates from ₹10,000 to ₹2,000
- November 7, 2022
- Posted by: OptimizeIAS Team
- Category: DPN Topics
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Election Commission proposal for reducing cash expenditure limit for candidates from ₹10,000 to ₹2,000
Subject : Polity
Context:
- Recently the Election Commission has proposed reducing the amount a candidate contesting polls can pay in cash for campaign-related expenditure from the existing Rs 10,000 to Rs 2,000 to make their transactions more transparent.
What is the proposal of the Election Commission:
- In the proposal submitted to the government recently, the poll panelrecommended that the Conduct of Election Rules should be amended to ensure that all cash payments in excess of ₹2,000 made to a person or entity for election-related expenses are made either through account payee cheques or online and digital means.
What was the method followed till now:
- As of now, the candidates have to ensure that all payments in excess of ₹10,000 are made by cheque, draft or bank transfer through a bank account opened exclusively for the purpose of election expenditure.
- Candidates have to open a separate bank account exclusively for election expenditure purposes, at least one day before filing of nomination.
- Candidates also have to maintain day-to-day accounts, cash book and bank book from the date of filing of nomination to the date of declaration of results (both dates inclusive).
- They have to include all expenses incurred on the date of filing of nomination as well.
- A candidate has to submit the election expenditure account to the District Election Officer (DEO) within 30 days of the declaration of the poll results.
What is election expenditure limit and rules regarding it:
- It is the amount an election candidate can legally spend for their election campaign and has to account for, which includes expenses on public meetings, rallies, advertisements, posters, banners, vehicles and advertisements.
- The expenditure limit for candidates for Lok Sabha constituencies had been increased from Rs 54 lakh-Rs 70 lakh to Rs 70 lakh-Rs 95 lakh, the limit for Assembly constituencies was hiked from Rs 20 lakh-Rs 28 lakh to Rs 28 lakh- Rs 40 lakh.
- Under Section 77 of the Representation of the People Act 1951, every candidate shall keep a separate and correct account of all expenditure incurred between the date on which they have been nominated and the date of declaration of the result and are required to submit their expenditure statement to the ECI within 30 days of the completion of the elections.
- An incorrect account or expenditurebeyond the cap can lead to disqualification of the candidate by the ECI for up to three years, under Section 10A of RPA, 1951.
There is no cap on a political party’s expenditure. However, all registered political parties have to submit a statement of their election expenditure to the ECI within 90 days of the completion of the elections.