20 October 2012

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Important 10 Questions Answered Elections, Expenses and Candidates

Important 10 Questions Answered Elections, Expenses and Candidates

FAQs –

 What to do if your candidate has filed an incorrect statement of his election expenses

1.
What are election expenses?
Every candidate contesting the state assembly elections is supposed to give his/her statement of
election expenditure. These expenses relate to the election, which the candidate is contesting. The
candidate has to file his statement of election expenses within thirty days from the date of election, to
the District Election Officer. The statement must be a true copy of the expenses made by him or by his agent from the date of nomination till the declaration of the results.

2.
What is the maximum limit of election expenses?
The maximum amount that a candidate can spend for his/her elections varies for state assembly
elections and the general elections. For the recently concluded state assembly elections in 5 states, the
maximum expense limit is as follows:
Punjab, Uttar Pradesh – 16 lac    Uttarakhand – 11 lac    Manipur, Goa – 8 lac

3.  What if a candidate has not filed his/her statement of election expenses?
If a candidate has not filed his/her statement of expenses within the required time period, the Election
Commission has the authority to declare him/her to be disqualified for a period of three years. This
provision is mentioned in Section 10A of the Representation of the People Act.

4.  What if a candidate has shown a lesser amount of election expenses than the actual expense incurred?

 If a person can show or prove that a candidate has filed a false statement i.e. expenses have been
undervalued or lesser amounts have been shown even though the actual expenditure is much higher, an
election petition can be filed. Under declaration of election expenses is a corrupt practice and one of the
grounds for filing an Election Petition.

5.  What if a candidate has spent more than the maximum limit of election expenses?
A candidate is not allowed to spend more than the maximum limit of election expenses. If a candidate
has exceeded the maximum limit of election expenses, then this is regarded as a corrupt practice under
section 123(6) of the Representation of People Act. A person can file an election petition against this
and he can be disqualified for a period of three years under section 10A of the Representation of
People Act.

6.  Who is eligible to file an election petition?
An election petition can be filed either by a candidate or a voter in the concerned constituency of the
State. Voter is a person who was entitled to vote at the election to which the election petition relates.

Whether he has voted at such election or not is immaterial. (Sec 81(1) explanation of Representation of People Act, 1951)

7.  When and where an election petition has to be filed?

An Election Petition has to be filed within 45 days from the declaration of the results of the State
Assembly elections. Election petition has to be filed in the High Court of the State to which the State
Assembly elections pertain.

8.  What should be the content of the Election Petition?

The election petition must be a precise statement of facts on which the petitioner relies. The petitioner
must present full details of the corrupt practice that he is alleging i.e. under declaration of expenses
along with physical proof. He must also mention the names of the parties who he is alleging and the
date and place when the corrupt practice was done.  It should be signed by the petitioner.

The petition shall also be accompanied by an affidavit in the prescribed form in support of the allegation of such corrupt practice
(Form 25,
http://lawmin.nic.in/legislative/election/volume%202/conduct%20of%20election%20rules,%201961.pdf).

9.
What is the cost for filing an Election Petition?

The petitioner shall have to deposit a sum of Rs. 2000/= in accordance with rules of the concerned High
Court. However, the fees may vary according to the individual rules of a particular High Court.

10.
Examples of election petitions that have been filed?

-  An election petition had been filed against Ashok Chavan for understating his election expenses
on newspaper advertisements during the 2009 elections.
-  Election Commission of India had disqualified Umlesh Yadav (woman MLA from Uttar Pradesh)
for filing an incorrect amount of expenses incurred by her during the elections.
-  An election petition had been filed against Indira Gandhi for corrupt electoral practices and she
was disqualified from contesting elections for a period of six years.
-  An election petition had been filed against Chidambaram on the grounds of corrupt practices
and manipulation of votes.

Source – ADR

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Saturday, October 20, 2012

Tags – India Election Law Expenses Candidates

4 comments:

JDC October 20, 2012  

Never voted myself, but the candidates from NZ are all the same anyway doesn't seem like its worthwhile.

MEcoy October 21, 2012  

very informative post nice nice