The Hindu : Tamil Nadu News : EC vigil has made parties rethink on spending

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, May 02, 2004

Tamil Nadu

Tamil Nadu

EC vigil has made parties rethink on spending

By R.K. Radhakrishnan

CHENNAI, MAY 1. Candidates in the Lok Sabha poll fray are extra cautious about expenses, given the stringent monitoring by the Election Commission.

The EC stipulates that local election officials draw up a schedule of rates for the common expenses (printing charges, hire charges for microphones, taxis, etc.). "If the rate declared by the candidate is grossly lower than what we have drawn up, we will not accept it," says an official.

A candidate can be disqualified if the expenses exceed the amount stipulated. He or she will have to maintain day-to-day accounts in a register giving details of all expenditure incurred or authorised.

Election expenditure observers have begun looking at the account books of candidates in many constituencies. They should submit accounts once in three days to specified officials nearest to their point of campaign. The expenditure observer for Chennai, H.S. Acharya, has called for an examination of expenditure records of the candidates from May 4.

Senior politicians, cutting across party lines, say the new regulations have made them rethink on their spending. At the same time, they have to sustain a relatively long campaign — the 13th Lok Sabha was dissolved on February 6. The poll in Tamil Nadu is slated for May 10. But seat-sharing arrangements and alliances were firmed up much before the election schedule was announced and a low-key campaign began in late February in many parts. A candidate has to maintain a record of expenditure from the time he/she submits nomination to the time the results are announced, say election officials.

Each Lok Sabha candidate can spend up to Rs. 25 lakhs in his/her constituency; but the expenses showed by the candidates of the main parties never come close to this limit, say sources. This remains the status only on paper, say a few senior partymen. It is not possible for a serious candidate to fight an election within the expenditure-ceiling fixed by the EC, they say.

For, all constituencies, except the three in Chennai, are large and this translates into bigger travel bills. Secondly, visibility can be guaranteed only by saturating certain parts of the constituency with banners, buntings, hoardings, posters and graffiti. "Painting a medium-sized wall costs about Rs. 300. So you can calculate how much we would spend in a constituency on wall painting alone," said a representative of a party in the city.

Thirdly, the cadres have to be kept `happy' so that they put in extra effort night and day, and also on the polling day. This, apart from looking after their food expenses — in some parties — means the candidate shelling out some pocket money for the cadres. On the polling day, there will be between four and six persons near the booth, helping voters and identifying bogus voters. In addition, there will be two agents, who take turns to sit inside the booth. As there is only one agent inside at any given time, it is a common practice to get an additional agent using the pass for an Independent or the other," says a local leader. Each constituency will have roughly about 1,000 booths.

Then, there are expenses on the stage (put up for a leader who comes to a constituency) and hire charges for marriage halls to house the cadres. Plus other expenses, beginning with handling local skirmishes to keeping cadres, volunteers and slum dwellers "happy." All this means additional expenditure. A rough estimate indicates that the amount spent by a serious candidate could range from Rs. 75 lakhs to Rs. 1 crore.

`No further rise'

The Election Commissioner, B.B. Tandon, said expenditure ceilings were recently revised "substantially" on the recommendations of the EC. "There is no proposal to further increase" the limit. When it was pointed out that some candidates were of the view that the amount fixed was not enough, he said: "Candidates would keep on saying that." The expenditure incurred by the political parties had also to be taken into account. Also, the Commission "did not want a lot of money power used in the election."

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