Poll expenditure: Chandigarh admn still waiting for remaining ₹5 crore from Centre

The Chandigarh Lok Sabha elections were held on June 1, which was the last phase and the results were declared on June 4

Even though it has been more than one month since the results of the Lok Sabha elections were declared, the UT administration, which spent around ₹7 crore during the elections, is still waiting for ₹5 crore from the Union ministry of law and justice.

In April this year, the ministry had released only ₹2 crore, but despite sending three reminders to the ministry, the remaining amount is still awaited, said officials. (HT File Photo)

In the 2019 elections, UT had spent ₹5.5 crore, while the expenditure in the 2014 elections was ₹3.88 crore.

The Chandigarh Lok Sabha elections were held on June 1, which was the last phase and the results were declared on June 4. Manish Tewari of Congress won the elections with a margin of 2,504 votes, defeating his nearest rival Sanjay Tandon of BJP. In April this year, the ministry had released ₹2 crore for poll expenditure. But despite sending three reminders to the ministry, the remaining amount is still awaited. On the other hand, bills from the vendors have piled up with the UT administration for clearance.

Notably, there is no limit on the expenditure, which is determined as per requirement. A senior officer of the UT administration said, “We have sent three reminders to the ministry, but have not got any reply. We are hopeful the senior officers will take up the matter with the ministry so that they release the funds,” the officer said. When asked why ₹7 crore were spent this time, he said, “Chandigarh elections were in the last phase, and our teams worked for almost two months; consequently, the amount increased,” he added.

Tents were installed at model polling booths and other booths as well. This time, 614 polling stations were set up, while in 2019, their number was 597.

Under the honorarium head, this time, the UT estimated an amount of ₹80 lakh, while in 2019, the honorarium amount was ₹61 lakh. The honorarium is the amount given to the polling staff for successful and fair conduct of the polls.

Funds were also spent on refreshments, hiring vehicles, plying Chandigarh Transport Undertaking buses, power packs for setting up control units for the VVPAT batteries and computer hardware/scanners.