ELECTION
EXPENDITURE - POLITY
News:
For the first time,
election expenditure details of candidates will be posted in public domain,
says CEO
What's
in the news?
●
Intensifying its election expenses
monitoring activities, the Election Commission will now post expenditure
details of individual candidates on the public domain after every inspection.
Election
Expenditure of Individual Candidates:
●
The expenditure limit refers to the amount
a candidate is allowed to legally spend
on election campaigning, including public meetings, rallies,
advertisements, posters and banners, and vehicles.
Legal
Provisions:
●
Under Section
77 of the Representation of the People Act (RPA), 1951, every candidate
shall keep a separate and correct account of all expenditure incurred between
the date on which they have been nominated and the date of declaration of the
result.
●
All candidates are required to submit
their expenditure statement to the EC within 30 days of completion of an
election.
●
An incorrect
account or expenditure beyond the cap can lead to disqualification of the candidate by the ECI for up to three years,
under Section 10A of RPA, 1951.
Features:
●
The EC
frequently revises the spending limit, largely based on cost factors and
the increasing number of voters.
●
There is no cap on a political party’s expenditure, which is often exploited
by candidates of the party.
●
However, all registered political parties have to submit a statement of
their election expenditure to the ECI within 90 days of the completion of the
elections.
Current
Election Expenditure Limit:
●
The expenditure limit for candidates for Lok Sabha constituencies was increased
from Rs 54 lakh - Rs 70 lakh (depending on states) to Rs 70 lakh - Rs 95 lakh.
●
The spending limit for Assembly constituencies was hiked from
Rs 20 lakh - Rs 28 lakh to Rs 28 lakh - Rs 40 lakh (depending on states).
●
The enhanced amount of Rs 40 lakh would
apply in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Punjab and ₹28 lakh in Goa and Manipur.
Factors
of Consideration:
●
In 2022, the last time the cap was
revised, the EC had formed a committee and invited suggestions from political
parties, chief electoral officers and election observers, and found that there
had been a substantial increase in the number of electors and Cost inflation
Index since 2014.
Go
back to basics:
Cost
Inflation Index (CFI):
●
It is used to estimate the increase in the
prices of goods and assets year-by-year due to inflation.
●
It is calculated to match the prices to the inflation rate. In simple words, an
increase in the inflation rate over time will lead to a rise in the prices.
●
Cost Inflation Index = 75% of the average
rise in the Consumer Price Index (urban) for the immediately preceding year.
●
Consumer Price Index compares the current
price of a basket of goods and services (which represent the economy) with the
cost of the same basket of goods and services in the previous year to calculate
the increase in prices.
●
The Central Government specifies CII by
notifying in the official gazette.