Alookatwhat Lok Sabha candidates can officially spend

AMONG THE Election Commission’s (EC) key responsibilities is monitoring poll expenditure, both by parties and individual candidates.

While there is no cap on how much parties can spend, candidates are limited to Rs 95 lakh for Lok Sabha constituencies and Rs 40 lakh for Assembly seats. In some smaller states and Union Territories, the cap is Rs 75 lakh and Rs 28 lakh for the Lok Sabha and Assemblies, respectively.

The spending limits have increased over the years, including from 2019, when these were Rs 70 lakh for Lok Sabha candidates and Rs 28 lakh for Assembly contenders.

The expenditure limit refers to the amount a candidate is allowed to legally spend on election campaigning. The EC frequently revises the spending limit, largely based on cost factors and the increasing number of voters. The last time the cap was revised was in 2022. In the first general election in 1951-52, Lok Sabha candidates were allowed to spend a maximum of Rs 25,000, and just Rs 10,000 in some Northeastern states. The limits weren’t changed until 1971, when the spending cap was raised to Rs 35,000 for most states. In 1980, the cap was raised to Rs 1 lakh . In 1984, it was raised to Rs 1.5 lakh in some states and Rs 1.3 lakh in some smaller states. For states with one to two Lok Sabha seats, the cap went only as high as Rs 1 lakh, with some UTS like Chandigarh restricted to just Rs 50,000.

The next change came in 1996, the post-liberalisation election, when the limit for most states was raised three-fold to Rs 4.5 lakh, with variations depending on UT status and number of seats. In the next election, in 1998, the spending cap was raised to Rs 15 lakh.

After more than a decade, in 2004, it was again raised to Rs 25 lakh. The limit went unchanged until 2014, when it was more than doubled to Rs 70 lakh.