Dharamsala: Record poll expenditure daily: Observer to parties

Dharamsala, May 23

IRS officer and expenditure observer Pratibha Choudhary has asked candidates to record the details of election campaign expenditure daily for correct assessment of expenditure with the shadow register maintained by the assistant expenditure supervisors and accounting teams.

While conducting the second check of the election campaign expenditure of the candidates today, Chaudhary said the calculation of the candidate’s expenses starts as soon as the nomination papers are filed and continues till the election results are declared.

The expenditure observer said apart from the candidates’ own expenditure registers, the Election Commission teams also prepare shadow registers. During inspection, these two registers are matched for the effective assessment of the expenditure.

The expenditure observer said the scrutiny of election expenditure registers of the candidates during the election process will take place on May 28. She said strict action will be taken against the candidates who do not report their election expenses as per the rules and they can be banned from contesting elections for up to three years.

If the expenditure is found to exceed the limit of Rs 95 lakh set by the Election Commission, the membership may be cancelled even after winning the election.

In order to conduct the election process in a free and fair manner, the expenditure observer urged all the candidates and political parties to cooperate in ensuring compliance with the model code of conduct in letter and spirit.

ADC Saurabh Jassal, Assistant Expenditure Supervisor and representatives of the candidates were also present at the meeting.