JOIN USThe decision was taken in consultation with the Election Commission of India.
Amending the Conduct of Elections Rules, 1961, the Union Law Ministry raised the expenditure limit from Rs 25 lakh to Rs 40 lakh for all the parliamentary constituencies except those in Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur and Sikkim.
The expenditure limit was raised to Rs 22 lakh in Goa, Rs 27 lakh each in Arunachal Pradesh and Sikkim and Rs 35 lakh each in Meghalaya and Manipur. For Assembly constituencies, the Ministry raised the poll expenditure limit from Rs 10 lakh to Rs 16 lakh which too varied according to the size of the states.
The upper limit for expenditure in Parliamentary elections in Nagaland, Tripura, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh has been raised to Rs 40 lakh. It varies in case of assembly constituencies.
In Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand, a candidate can spend only Rs 11 lakh in assembly elections while in case of Nagaland and Tripura, the expenditure can go up to Rs 8 lakh.
While the maximum expenditure limit for Parliamentary constituencies has been fixed at Rs 40 lakh for Delhi, it is Rs 14 lakh for the national capital’s assembly constituencies.
Chief Election Commissioner S Y Quraishi had recently advocated rationalisation of ceiling of expenses in elections.