The Law Ministry has enhanced the spending limit of poll expenditure for Assembly and Lok Sabha elections by 10 percent. The move comes after a recommendation by the Election Commission (EC) in the light of restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic. The notification, issued late on Monday evening, will help candidates contesting the Bihar Assembly polls and those fighting by-polls to 59 Assembly seats across 11 States and one Lok Sabha seat.  The ceiling on poll expenses varies across States, with candidates in Assembly elections in bigger States such as Bihar, UP, and Tamil Nadu now approved to spend up to Rs30.8 lakhs as against Rs28 lakhs earlier. For a candidate contesting a Lok Sabha poll in these States, the revised ceiling on poll expenditure is now Rs77 lakhs in lieu of the previous amount of Rs70 lakhs.

Goa, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and a few Union Territories, on the basis of the range of their constituencies and population, have a lower ceiling on poll spending. Here while the enhanced ceiling for a Lok Sabha candidate is now Rs59.4 lakhs those contesting an Assembly can spend up to Rs22 lakhs. The last time the expenditure ceiling hiked was in 2014 just ahead of the Lok Sabha election.

Over a month ago, the Election Commission had suggested a 10 percent increase in expenditure for all elections to be held during the corona virus pandemic, keeping in mind the problems that candidates may encounter while campaigning under the various COVID protocol stipulated by the poll panel. The notification that revised the Conduct of Elections norms does not mention that the limit has been enhanced on account of  the pandemic or if it is only for the COVID-19 period.

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