VIJAYAWADA: State Election Commissioner Anil Chandra Punetha has clarified that candidates contesting local body elections must not spend beyond the expenditure limit prescribed by the State Election Commission (SEC).
The Election Commissioner has issued orders appointing 28 IFS officers as expenditure observers for 28 districts and held a meeting with them on Friday to review election expenditure monitoring and related arrangements.
During the meeting, he instructed the observers to ensure daily monitoring of candidates’ election expenditure from the date of filing of nominations until the completion of the election process. He also directed them to guide Returning Officers to provide candidates with the prescribed formats for recording election expenditure, free of cost and within the stipulated time.
He stated that every contesting candidate must submit details of their total election expenditure to the State Election Commission through the District Election Officer within 45 days of the declaration of election results.
The Commissioner directed the expenditure observers to ensure that candidates, their agents and the general public do not face any inconvenience at polling stations. He also instructed them to coordinate with the district police authorities and make adequate security arrangements to maintain law and order.