The State Election Commission of Delhi has increased the limit of expenditure that can be incurred by a candidate in the elections for the city’s three municipal corporations to Rs 8 lakh from Rs 5.75 lakh.
Polls for 272 wards of the three civic bodies in Delhi are slated to be held in April. A schedule is yet to be announced by the commission.
”I, S K Srivastava, State Election Commissioner of NCT of Delhi, hereby fix the maximum limit of expenditure to be incurred by a candidate at an election to a ward of three municipal corporations of Delhi viz North Delhi, South Delhi and East Delhi, to be held hereafter as Rs 8 lakh,” said an order issued on Friday.
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Civic authorities said in the last municipal elections in 2017, the maximum expenditure limit was Rs 5.75 lakh. In the 2004 MCD polls, the maximum expenditure limit was Rs 4 lakh, which was increased to Rs 5 lakh in 2012.
”It was further increased by Rs 75,000 in the 2017 municipal elections. Now, it will be Rs 8 lakh this time,” a functionary of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) told PTI on Sunday.
SDMC councillor from Janakpuri Narendra Chawla hailed the decision and said it would help in establishing transparency during the elections.
”Increasing the expenditure limit is a good move. Some candidates anyway overstepped the prescribed expenditure limits in the previous elections. Those who crossed the limit used to prepare fake bills to fit the expenditure within the limit. But now, this decision of increasing the limit will bring transparency,” Chawla claimed.
There are 104 wards each in the North and the South Delhi Municipal Corporations. The East Delhi Municipal Corporation has 64 wards. Half of the wards are reserved for women candidates. There are wards reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates as well.
In the last MCD polls in Delhi, the BJP registered an impressive victory, returning to power in the three corporations by winning 181 of the 272 wards.
Its closest rival, the AAP, managed to win only 49 wards, while the Congress bagged 31 wards in the 2017 elections.
Independent candidates won three wards in North Delhi, four in South Delhi and one in East Delhi.
