The Hindu : Front Page : Parties get away with lavish campaigning in local body polls

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Sep 26, 2007
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Parties get away with lavish campaigning in local body polls

S.Rajendran

State Government yet to empower SEC on keeping a tab on election expenses

BANGALORE: The 18,195 candidates contesting for the 4,920 seats in the elections to the 209 urban local bodies in the State scheduled on September 28 can consider themselves lucky.

Unlike the candidates contesting the Legislative Assembly and the Lok Sabha elections, they need not maintain accounts of their election expenditure.

Although amendments to the Karnataka Municipalities Act and the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act were enacted in 2003 with the specific aim of regulating the expenditure incurred by candidates in the local body elections by setting a ceiling on expenditure, successive governments have not bothered to frame the rules under the Act.

The aim of the legislation has been nullified, and the State Election Commission (SEC) rendered a helpless spectator to lavish spending during campaigning by some candidates.

State Election Commissioner M.R. Hegde, who is overseeing the conduct of the municipal elections, told The Hindu that the SEC was yet to be empowered to monitor the expenditure incurred by candidates.

Compared to the Legislative Assembly and the Lok Sabha elections where the candidates have to maintain and file a statement of accounts, there is no such rule for the municipal elections.

Manpower shortage

A serious manpower shortage has gripped most sectors of the State over the past week with politicians and political parties luring daily wage workers, casual workers and the unemployed for campaigning.

Although there are no elections in Bangalore Urban District, business activities in the metropolitan city have been hit with most of those working in construction sites and other

jobs, who come from peripheral areas such as Ramanagaram, Channapatna, Tumkur, Kolar and KGF, preferring to stay back in their native places.

At least, 10,000 residents of KGF work in Bangalore. They come to the city by train in the morning and return home in the evening.

All of them have preferred “election duty” because of the attractive compensation and other benefits like free lunch and evening bash daily.

The construction industry is the worst hit. Work in construction sites, particularly in Bangalore, has come to a near halt for the last few days.

Several political leaders and candidates contesting the elections told The Hindu that the municipal elections have turned out to be an expensive affair with stakes being high for the Congress, the Janata Dal (Secular), and the Bharatiya Janata Party.

The elections are being seen as an indicator of the trends for the next Legislative Assembly elections. And with the Janata Dal (S) keeping the cards close to its chest on handing over charge to the BJP on October 3, political parties believe that the stage is set for midterm elections to the Legislative Assembly.

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