For the first time in the State, details of election expenditure of candidates contesting in an election to a Lok Sabha/Assembly constituency have been made available in the public domain even before the day of polling.
This has been done in the case of the Yercaud Assembly constituency, which is facing the by-election on Wednesday. A similar experiment is being made in the case of Surat (West) constituency that is going to the by-poll the same day.
The idea behind the move is to ensure a “free, fair and transparent” election, says a senior official of the State Elections Department.
As regards Yercaud, the details have been hosted on the website of the Salem District administration ( >http://salem.tn.nic.in ), a link to which has also been given in the website of the State Elections Department ( >http://elections.tn.gov.in ).
Normally, election expenditure observers inspect accounts of candidates thrice before the day of polling. These accounts are now available online with remarks of the observers. In respect of Yercaud, the details of expenditure as on December 1 are now on the two websites.
After the declaration of results, within 30 days, all the candidates are required to submit their full accounts. Till now, only such details were hosted on the websites of poll authorities.
