Congress MP suggests removal of limits on election expenses

A Congress member in Rajya Sabha on Thursday sought elimination of the ceiling on election expenditure limits by bringing amendments, saying the cap imposed was "unrealistic" and "counter-productive".

Moving a Private Member's Bill to amend the Representation of the People Act, 1951, MV Rajeev Gowda said the limit imposed has given rise to corruption and also claimed it was keeping good people away from the poll process.

"Something is fundamentally flawed with the election system. Why the system is favouring tainted over the 'sainted'. The expenditure limit is unrealistic and is perverse and counter-productive. It should be removed," he said introducing the bill. Favouring open political contribution, he said a culture should be encouraged so as to make the system well accepted.

He also proposed state funding of political parties in proportion to the amount raised openly from small private donors. In this regard, he referred to the Indrajit Gupta committee which had in principle supported the idea of partial state funding, the Law Commission as well as the Second Administrative Reforms Commission which had mooted the idea of partial and conditional state funding.

"Low limit force underground election expenditure and thus favour candidates with illegal money and the network to spent illegal money, thereby tilting the electoral field in favour of potentially criminal candidate who are better placed to win," he argued.

He also suggested allocation of Rs 100 per vote that is polled in favour of a political party from the central government's budget to be kept in a bank account of that party at the constituency level. Gowda also said independent candidates with more than 2% of the votes polled should be eligible for similar state support. The discussion remained inconclusive as the House adjourned for the day.