ELECTION COMMISSION OF INDIA
Nirvachan Sadan, Ashoka Road, New Delhi-110001.

Dated 5^th January, 1998.

Press Note

The 11^th Lok Sabha was dissolved by the President of India on 4.12.1997. While dissolving the 11^th Lok Sabha, President directed that 12^th Lok Sabha should be constituted by 15^th March, 1998. On 5.12.1997, the Election Commission of India, while making an over all assessment of poll related issues in the Country, and keeping in view the low ceilings on election expenditure prescribed for candidates, had taken the view that the following three items should be excluded from the list of items of expenditure, for which every candidate has to account for in his return on the expenses incurred by him in any election;

i. Cost of nomination Form,
ii. Expenditure on security deposit,
iii. Expenditure on purchase of electoral rolls and issue of unofficial identity slips for convassing.

The Election Commission of India had consistently been holding the view that ceilings on expenses for candidates in Lok Sabha and Assembly elections were unrealistically low, and had been repeatedly recommending to the Government to bring in necessary changes in the law by which these amounts were raised to reasonably realistic level. Now, the Government has amended the relevant rule prescribing maximum limits on election expenditure. Such limits have been raised from Rs. 4.5 lakhs to Rs.15 lakhs, in the case of Parliamentary Constituencies and from Rs. 1.5 lakh to Rs. 6 lakh in the case of Assembly Constituencies for bigger State with suitable variations in respect of the smaller States. The expenses incurred by the political parties are still outside the purview of these limits, though the Commission has been recommending that the said limits should be all inclusive, including the expenditure incurred by a political party in relation to a particular candidate.

Taking this revised scenario into account, the Commission is now of the view that the above limited concession in the form of exemption of expenditure on the aforementioned three items will no longer be needed by the candidates. Accordingly, they will be continue to account for the above items of expenditure in their returns, as was as being done hitherto.


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