Observer, teams to keep tab on poll spendings

The expenditure observer for Ludhiana (West) byelection, Indana Ashok Kumar, on Monday directed all flying squads, static surveillance, video surveillance, accounting teams and assistant expenditure observers (AEO) to keep a close eye on the expenditure for election publicity and campaigning to be made by the candidates.

Presiding over a meeting, the expenditure observer asked the teams to submit the reports on the expenses incurred by the candidates on a daily basis. He said that to keep a close tab over the expenditure incurred by the parties and candidates, 12 FSTs, One VVT, eight VSTs, 9 SSTs, one account team, AEOs and MCMC were working to keep a close tab over the poll expenditure. He asked the flying squads, static surveillance teams and others to discharge their duties responsibly to ensure free and fair election. He also asked for coordination between the officers and the staff who have been appointed to check the expenses.

Moreover, the shadow registers of the candidates, who will be in the poll fray, will be compared with the registers maintained by them. During checking, the contesting candidates will bring their expenditure registers and other records like cash book, bank voucher and bank statements and these will be then matched with the shadow registers.

Additional Deputy Commissioner (RD) Amarjit Bains said that the expenditure limit set by the Election Commission of India for a candidate in the upcoming Ludhiana (West) byelection was Rs 40 lakh.