HYDERABAD: To curb illegal flow of money during elections, the Election Commission of India (ECI) has capped the election expenditure through cash transaction in a single day for the contesting candidate or the political parties. From the earlier Rs 20,000 per day, it has now been limited to Rs 10,000 for a contesting candidate per day.
The ECI issued instructions to all the Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) in the country including Telangana state this week on the revised expenditure.
The threshold of Rs 20,000 for incurring of election expenditure by cross payee cheque, bank draft or by National Electronic Funds Transfer (NEFT) or Real Time Gross Settlement (RTGS) has been revisited by the ECI having regard to the amendment made in the Section 40 A (3) of the Income Tax Act, 1961 with effect from April 2017.
It has been decided that henceforth that all election expenditure, donation either by/to the candidates or political parties exceeding Rs 10,000 in all situations should be incurred by cross payee cheque, demand draft or NEFT or RTGS or any other electronic mode linked with the bank account of the candidate opened for election purpose or by the political party.
The instruction of the ECI will come into effect immediately. In cases where elections are to be held by the Commission, instruction should immediately be brought to the notice of Returning Officers, Expenditure Observers, candidates and all the other stakeholders. The decision by the ECI was communicated to Chief Electoral Officer Rajat Kumar.
“The cash transaction per day has been reduced to Rs 10,000 to curb illegal money flow during the elections. We are interacting with the intelligence wing of the Finance Ministry on a regular basis,” Rajat Kumar said.
The CEO officials said that the candidate will be able to spend a maximum of Rs 28 lakh and if the expenditure crosses this limit, the ticket of the candidates can also be cancelled, the officials said.
As per ECI, nomination form should also be purchased using the new bank account. The candidates must submit their expenditure account data to the election officer. Candidates will not be able to spend more than Rs 10,000 cash as all transactions must be done with cheque or other valid means of banking.
A look-out on social media use
Relating to the use of social media in the context of elections, the Election Commission of India has come out with a few instructions. Any violation would be dealt with seriously, according to CEO Rajat Kumar. The specific instruction are...
Social media accounts of the candidates should be informed in the affidavits in Form-26 to Commission
No political advertisements are released to any internet-based media or websites by political parties or candidates without pre-certification from authorities
Expenditure on campaigning though internet including social media websites shall be included in the expenditure in terms of section 77(1) of RP Act
The content on internet including social media would be subject to the provisions of Model Code of Conduct
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