No tool to enforce Election Commission cap on poll expense

The state Election Commission’s warning to the political parties not to exceed the expenditure limit beyond Rs5 lakh for individual candidates contesting the Mumbai civic polls is likely to remain on the paper in the absence of a monitoring mechanism.

Sources in the EC told DNA, “Candidates contesting in the BMC elections can spend up to Rs5 lakh. Earlier, the upper limit was Rs 1.35 lakh.” However, the officials admitted, “A close scrutiny to ascertain that political parties did not exceed the limit remains the biggest challenge for the state election commission in the polls.”

The EC’s focus has been to install new electronic voting machines (EVMs) to check tampering. And little is being done to contain the misuse of black money in the election process.

At a meeting held a few days ago with political leaders across party lines, the EC found itself grappling with uncomfortable questions.

Senior political worker and former senator of Mumbai University Tushar Jagtap said, “The state EC can play a significant role in checking corruption if it executes its rights effectively. It can certainly curtail the use of black money in elections. But they have not even given a thought in that direction.” EC guidelines stated, “Any individual withdrawing cash in a day exceeding Rs1 lakh from a bank account during the election process could be subject to scrutiny.”

Officials should ask banks to submit reports on withdrawal of cash exceeding Rs1 lakh during elections. In case of suspicious nature of a withdrawal, necessary action may be taken and the information about amounts exceeding Rs10 lakh shall be passed on by the election officer to the assistant/director of income tax in charge of the district for necessary action under the IT laws.

Sources in the EC said, “Often, the observers swing into action only when political rivals complain against any candidate for misuse of money to woo the voters. Often candidates indulge in transactions through cash, which cannot be accounted for in banks.”

The income tax department,  with the EC, is supposed to play a significant role to check black money, but guidelines are often violated with excuses such as shortage of staff.