Civic elections make LMC rich as candidates pay taxes

LUCKNOW: The Lucknow Municipal Corporation and several other government departments have reason to cheer, as the candidates for the civic bodies’ elections have filled their coffers by way of clearing pending dues.

The Jal Sansthan has got its dues of around ₹50 lakhs and the Lucknow Municipal Corporation has recovered around ₹1 crore from the contestants , while Lucknow Electricity Supply Administration (LESA) has earned more than ₹1 crore from the candidates.

These candidates have cleared their dues because as per the Election Commission, it is mandatory for the candidates to get a ‘no objection’ certificate (NOCs) from government departments like Municipal Corporation , LESA and Jal Sansthan.

Any pendency of dues will result in cancellation of the candidature.

Three mayoral candidates have deposited long pending house tax of over ₹1 lakh.

LMC is fortunate to make a good recovery of dues because of polls. During polls, the LMC tax inspectors are pressed into poll duty and this hampers tax collection. PK SRIVASTAVA , additional municipal commissioner

One of the candidates was protesting the house tax but deposited it as she filed her papers for mayoral poll.

Similarly, two candidates for corporator’s post deposited their power dues of over ₹1 lakh.

Additional municipal commissioner PK Srivastava said, “LMC is fortunate to make a good recovery of dues because of the elections. During elections, the LMC tax inspectors are pressed into poll duty and this hampers tax collection. But that has been compensated because of candidates depositing the tax to get NOC from LMC and Jal Sansthan.”