EC reduces candidates’ cash spending limit to ₹10k per day

The Election Commission has reduced the cash expenditure limit of a contesting candidate to ~10,000 per day from the earlier ~ 20,000, Telangana chief electoral officer Rajat Kumar said here Friday.

He said the EC’s decision was communicated to him on Thursday and the directive will be strictly implemented. The EC has fixed an upper limit of ~28 lakh for expenditure of a candidate in the coming Assembly elections in Telangana. “The cash transaction per day has been reduced to ~ 10,000. It was ~ 20,000 earlier. This will help curb illegal money flow during the elections. We are interacting with Intelligence wing of the Finance Ministry on a regular basis,” he said.

On the distribution of money to lure voters during elections, he said civil societies should play a pivotal role in curbing the menace. The CEO Thursday said the police and Income Tax departments in separate searches seized about ~70 crore unaccounted cash on different occasions since the Model Code of Conduct was implemented in the state.

Also the Excise and Police sleuths seized liquor worth ~ 6.70 crore, he said. Replying to a query, he said corporates and firms should declare paid holiday on the poll day to enable their employees cast votes.

“Employees are entitled to vote on that day. Not granting of paid holiday to employees entitled to vote on the date of poll by the employer is against the provision of Representation of People Act. It is a non-cognisable offence,” Rajat Kumar said.

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