New Delhi (TIP)-The Union ministry of law and justice on Thursday, Jan 6,  approved raising the election expenditure ceiling by a candidate to a maximum of Rs 95 lakh in Parliamentary elections and Rs 40 lakhs in assembly elections, increasing them from the earlier limits of Rs 77 lakh and Rs 30.8 lakh.

The increase comes at a time when five states are headed for assembly polls — Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Uttarakhand, Manipur and Goa — even as a sharply rising third wave of Covid-19 cases has raised the clamour for political rallies to be conducted virtually to avoid the spread of the infection.

The increased budget is meant to facilitate this shift, officials familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by subsection (3) of Section 77 read with Section 169 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951 (43 of 1951), the central government, after consulting the Election Commission of India, hereby makes the following rules further to amend the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, namely, the government said in a gazette notification. These rules may be called the Conduct of Elections (Amendment) Rules, 2022. (2) They shall come into force on the date of their publication in the Official Gazette,” the gazette notification said.

In 2020, the government approved a 10% raise in the poll expenditure cap ahead of the Bihar elections to allow candidates to spend on virtual campaigning amid the pandemic. The ceiling for parliamentary constituencies was at the time raised to Rs 77 lakh, from the 2014 limit of Rs 70 lakh, and assembly polls to Rs 30.8 lakhs from Rs 28 lakh in larger states. With the revision, candidates in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab — classified among large states — will therefore be able to spend Rs 40 lakh in the upcoming polls, while those in Goa and Manipur — classified as small states — will have to adhere to a limit of Rs 28 lakh.

The increase was cleared on the recommendation by the Election Commission, the official cited above said.

According to EC officials, there were three considerations which officials had while recommending raising limit. “Number of electors has gone up significantly, inflation index has also gone up,” a second official said.

The Commission anticipates virtual campaigning to also increase costs. ‘They will need to out up big screens in various places so a budget for that had to be factored in,’’ the official added, saying that this was part of the reforms that the poll panel has been pushing for. The Commission had come under the scanner in April this year as polls continued amid the peak of the second wave of the pandemic. The Madras High Court went as far as to say that EC officials were culpable for murder for conducting polls.

Candidate expenditure includes the money spent by them on polling events, rallies, posters and other paraphernalia. The same, however, can also be borne by the political party the candidate is affiliated to.      Source HT