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Ahead of elections EC increases cap on election expenditure

By:  Tupaki Desk   |   7 Jan 2022 6:26 AM GMT
Ahead of elections EC increases cap on election expenditure
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Five states in India are gearing up to witness the general elections. All the political parties have taken the forthcoming elections seriously and kept themselves busy in making plans to get an upper hand and shift the momentum towards them and win the general elections.

In the wake of the forthcoming elections, the top election body Election Commission of India (ECI) came up with a piece of good news for the candidates contesting the elections.

The Election Commission said that the cap imposed on the expenditure limit for the candidates for the elections. The rise in the expenditure is applied to the states and union territories as well for both Assembly and Parliament elections.

For the Assembly constituency elections, the cap has been increased to Rs 28 lakh from the existing Rs 20 lakh for the states. When it comes to Union Territories, the same cap was pushed from Rs 28 lakh to Rs 40 lakh.

Coming to the Parliament elections, the Election Commission of India had increased the limit to Rs 75 lakh from the existing Rs 54 lakh in the states and ₹70 lakh to ₹95 lakh for the Union Territories across the nation.

The election body had released a press note confirming the hike in the expenditure. The body said the expenditure limit was revised earlier for two times in 2014 and 2020. In 2020, the limit was increased by 10 percent after taking various issues into consideration.

"Simultaneously, the ECI formed a committee to study the cost factors, and Cost Inflation Index 2014 substantially. It also factored into the changing modes of campaigning, which is gradually shifting to virtual campaign," the Election Commission said in the statement.

"The Commission accepted the recommendations and, accordingly, the revised limits have now been notified by M/O Law, Justice and Legislative Department," the official press note reads further.

The cap was increased by the Election Commission of India after reviewing the recommendations made by the special committee that comprises people like retired IRS officer Harish Kumar, Election Commission Secretary-General Umesh Sinha, Chandra Bhushan Kumar, and Senior Deputy Election Commissioner as the members.