New Delhi: Ahead of the assembly polls in
Bihar, the Election Commission has issued a series of
instructions to the election authorities in the state to keep
a close tab on expenses incurred by political parties and the
candidates.
"Though the account of election expenditure is required to
be submitted within 30 days from the date of the declaration
of the result, yet the monitoring has to be done on a regular
basis during the campaign period for it to be of any use," the
EC said in a letter to the Bihar Chief Electoral Officer.
After the campaign was over it would be difficult to get
any evidence of election expenditure, it said adding that
since the District Election Officer was required under the law
to scrutinise and submit a report to the EC, it was primarily
the duty of the DEO to monitor election expenditure.
Observing that there should be a surveillance team for
tracking illegal cash transactions for each Police Station,
the EC said the team would keep a watch on large quantities of
cash being carried in their area.
Besides setting up an accounting team for a maximum of
five candidates for maintenance of the shadow expenditure
register of the candidates, the EC said that there shall be a
media expenditure monitoring team in each district to monitor
both print and electronic media including cable networks, for
election advertising and paid news.
Under the rules, the maximum limit of election expenses at
present is Rs 25 lakh for a Lok Sabha constituency and Rs ten
lakhs for an assembly constituency.
Assembly elections in Bihar will be held in six phases on
October 21, 24 and 28 and November 1, 9 and 20.
PTI
