Chandigarh: Capping for LS polls expenses fixed at ₹75L

Chandigarh DEO held a meeting with the representatives of all political parties in Chandigarh on Saturday to finalise and fix rates of several commonly used items during the election process

Each candidate who will be fighting for the lone Lok Sabha seat from Chandigarh, polling for which is scheduled for June 1, can spend a maximum of ₹75 lakh on the election campaigning, district election officer-cum-deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh said after capping the amount on Saturday.

“After detailed discussions, the rates were fixed with consensus of all political parties,” district election officer-cum-deputy commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh said in a press release. (HT File)

The DEO held a meeting with the representatives of all political parties in Chandigarh on Saturday to finalise and fix rates of several commonly used items during the election process, in pursuance of a compendium of instructions for election expenditure monitoring issued by the Election Commission of India (ECI). The senior superintendent of police, additional deputy commissioner, SDM (South) and other officers were also present during the meeting.

“The limit of incurring expenditure by the contesting candidates during the General Election to Lok Sabha-2024 has been fixed as ₹75 lakh by the ECI. After detailed discussions, the rates were fixed with consensus of all political parties,” Vinay Pratap Singh said in a press release.

Ahead of the LS polls, the ECI caps expenditure limits for states and union territories, depending upon the total seats and other factors. For 2024 polls, candidates are limited to ₹95 lakh for Lok Sabha constituencies and ₹40 lakh for Assembly seats but for some smaller states and union territories, the cap is ₹75 lakh and ₹28 lakh for the Lok Sabha and Assemblies, respectively.

It is worth mentioning that there is no cap on how much parties can spend, as per the ECI.

During the 2019 Lok Sabha elections, the candidates in all union territories were allowed to spend a maximum of ₹54 lakh.

The expenditure limit refers to the amount a candidate, after filing the nominations, is allowed to legally spend on election campaigning, including public meetings, rallies, advertisements, posters, banners and vehicles. All candidates are required to submit their expenditure statement to the ECI within 30 days of completion of an election.