By Express News Service
NEW DELHI: Political parties and candidates can now spend more in campaigning as the Centre hiked the maximum poll expenditure limit from Rs 70 lakh to Rs 95 lakh and from Rs 28 lakh to Rs 40 lakh for general and state elections, respectively.
The new expenditure limits for the assembly polls will be applicable to the elections in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Goa and Manipur. The previous major revision was done in 2014, which was further increased by 10% in 2020.
Following demands to raise existing the ceiling and the increase in electors from 2014 to 2021 from 834 million to 936 million, a senior EC official said the Commission accepted the recommendations of a panel and decided to enhance the limit set for candidates.
For the general elections, the limit was raised to Rs 95 lakh for bigger states and to Rs 75 lakh, up from Rs 54 lakh, for smaller ones. Earlier, the ceiling for bigger states had been increased to Rs 77 lakh in an ad-hoc arrangement during the period of Covid pandemic.
When it comes to the Assembly elections, the revised limit for candidates will now be Rs 40 lakh for the big states, up from Rs 28 lakh, while those in smaller states can now spend a maximum of Rs 28 lakh instead of Rs 20 lakh.
The revised limits were notified by the Ministry of Law, Justice and Legislative Department. The Election Commission had earlier formed a committee comprised of Harish Kumar (retd. IRS Officer), Umesh Sinha (Secretary General) and Chandra Bhushan Kumar (Sr. Deputy Election Commissioner) to study the cost factors and other related issues and make suitable recommendations.
The Committee invited suggestions from political parties, Chief Electoral Officers and Election Observers. It found that there has been increase in number of electors and that the cost inflation index had risen from 2014-15 to 2021-22 from 240 to 317 (up by 32.08%). The panel also factored into the changing modes of campaigning, which is gradually shifting to virtual campaign, given the new scenario in the country.
