Punjab finance minister Surinder Singla may just rue sweating his energy in the elections, where he fights BJP star Navjot Singh Sidhu for the Amritsar seat.
Individual nominees may be billed for not adhering to norms
NEW DELHI: Punjab finance minister Surinder Singla may just rue sweating his energy in the elections, where he fights BJP star Navjot Singh Sidhu for the Amritsar seat.
The ruling party was caught napping when it came to sending a list of star campaigners expected in the state, to the governor as required under setion 77 of the People’s Representation Act.
Such a list ensures that the expenses incurred on arranging programmes of these leaders like fare of the chartered flights, travel expenses, hotel bills, security, expenses for organising rallies etc, are not accounted on candidates poll-related expenses.
But with the dispatching of this list being delayed, the Election Commission (EC) has swooped down on Singla and other candidates.
Realising that the Congress has not sent its list, even seven days after the Punjab poll notification, the EC and its observers, who maintain a vigil on expenditures, have decided to bill the individual candidate for all the expenses due to star campaigners like Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh and CM Amarinder Singh.
According to the law, a candidate can spend a maximum of Rs 10 lakh for poll related purposes.
Now it is going to be very difficult for the candidates in whose constituency Congress star campaigners have visited.
It had communicated the same to the Punjab CEO and state Congress on January 25 and received a response two days later on the reasons for the delay alongwith the list. By then it was too late as everything had become part of the record as per the law.
Interestingly the Congress party had sent the list of 40 leaders including Sonia Gandhi for Manipur and Uttarkhand on time.
An EC official said: “The lapse might affect chances of some Congress candidates even if they win the elections. We expect a spate of disqualification petitions after the poll process is over. We will have to take notice of all these petitions and scrutinise the expenses. A candidate can still manage if he is very smart in bluffing other expenses.”
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