New Delhi: Government on Friday cleared a proposal of the Election Commission to raise expenditure limits for Lok Sabha elections to a maximum of Rs 70 lakh and a minimum of Rs 54 lakh, allowing candidates to spend more on their poll campaigns.
According to sources, the Union Cabinet which met here considered the Commission’s proposal in this regard sent on February 17 and cleared the same.
It will also go up to Rs 54 lakh in north eastern states where the limits were varying between Rs 35 lakh to Rs 27 lakh for parliamentary seats earlier.
Among the union territories, the limit will go up from Rs 40 lakh to Rs 70 lakh in Delhi while it will be uniform at Rs 54 lakh for all other UTs.
The limit for Delhi Assembly Elections is proposed to be raised to Rs 28 lakh from Rs 14 lakh at present and Rs 20 lakh for Puducherry from Rs 8 lakh now.
Sources said the EC had worked out a formula based on Cost Inflation Index by virtue of which it proposed a hike in the expenditure limit for candidates contesting Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies.
As per the formula worked out by the Commission, the rise for Parliamentary and Assembly constituencies was done on a multiple of 1.75 times the previous figures, sources said. The enhanced expenses limits come in the wake of political parties making a strong pitch in this regard at a recent meeting with top officials of the Election Commission.
Parties had argued that current limits were too meager compared to the rise in prices on account of inflation. The expenditure limit for each Parliamentary constituency in the 2009 Lok Sabha election was Rs 25 lakh for bigger states and was revised in 2011 to Rs 40 lakh.
Sources say candidates in their expenses returns filed with the poll body have been under reporting. At present, a majority of the candidates have declared barely half the expenditure they are allowed to incur by the EC, the sources said.
