Strict check on poll expenses

The returning officers would check the candidates' documents once in three days to ensure that they do not breach the upper limit of the expenditure.

Candidates contesting the Assembly elections would have to submit a daily record of expenses incurred on campaigning. The returning officers would check the documents once in three days to ensure that the candidates do not breach the upper limit of expenditure.

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“Every candidate after filing his nomination paper would have to submit a day-to-day record of the expenses incurred on the campaigning,” said a district election official.

The election department has been provided with a separate record sheet for the purpose of noting the expenses. There is a separate proforma, which would be filled in and later verified by the sub divisional officials and returning officers.

A candidate contesting the Assembly elections can spend a maximum of Rs 10 lakh.

The officers have been instructed to verify the expenses before finally attesting it with the seals. “The entire record would be submitted to the chief election officer with a month of the completion of the polling process,” an official said. The counter affidavits would be checked and the authenticity checked.

From automobile, rent and petrol expenses to food and beverages and even liquor, everything would be accounted for, in the accounts of the contesting candidate, officials said.