In a first, the Secunderbad Cantonment Board (SCB) is mulling a ceiling on expenditure to deter contestants from lavish spending during the upcoming polls. T. Vittal, Returning Officer for SCB polls, told this correspondent that candidates in the fray have expressed the need to cap expenditure to level the contest between different candidates.
Therefore, a proposal would be mooted from his office to the president of SCB regarding capping the expenditure at one-eight of the expenditure for Assembly elections (there are eight wards in SCB).
“The proposal would be sent from our side and if approved, would be implemented this year. Many candidates demanded that an upper limit on spending be implemented,” Mr. Vittal said, adding that it was well within the ambit of cantonment poll regulation to introduce such limits. The candidates nominated were notified on Tuesday to keep record of election expenditure.
In the past, there was no cap on spending which allowed wealthy candidates to spend huge money running into tens of lakhs of rupees to win ward election. Though candidates do not represent political parties, affiliations to parties allow candidates to splurge. One candidate, who has served on the board in the past and is contesting this time too informed that expenditure can top Rs. 20 lakh, exceeding the Rs. 16 lakh limit that Election Commission of India (EC) had laid down for last Assembly elections.
The SCB also received the EC’s nod for using electronic voting machines in the polls scheduled January11. Accordingly, SCB would require at least 250 balloting units and 250 controlling units. Next year’s polls would mark SCB’s first to involve electronic voting.
