Election Expenditure Returns

Under the Constitution of India as well as of the State of Jammu and Kashmir, political parties taking part in Parliamentary or State Legislative Assembly elections are required to submit the election expenditure return to the Chief Election Commission of India within thirty days of the announcement of the result of the polls. It is mandatory for all contesting political parties. The clause has been further strengthened through the verdict of the Supreme Court of India in the case of Common Cause Vs Union of India & Others.
But notwithstanding clear and unambiguous rules, it is surprising to note that neither the national mainstream parties like the Congress and the Bhartiya Janata Party nor their regional affiliates have filed returns of expenditures incurred by their candidates in the recently held Parliamentary elections in the country. Regional parties like National Conference, Peoples Democratic Party and JK National Panthers Party, too, have chosen to ignore submitting of returns.  According to the rules 16th August 2014 was the last date by which the parties concerned should have filed their reports. National Conference and PDP are reported to have submitted statements but these are incomplete and deliberately avoiding giving the overall figures of expenditure.  In the case of Panthers Party, it has not sent in any report.
The purpose of asking the parties to send in their expenditure returns is to impose curbs on the use of money power in elections. Furthermore, it is to ensure transparency. The complaint of candidates alluring voters by offering them cash doles is very common and everybody knows that this practice has been there in almost all elections. Agreeing that the practice may not be curbed fully and those loopholes will remain, that does not mean that nothing should be done to curb this malpractice. Generally money transaction is conducted covertly and it is very difficult to prove the crime. A question that is raised in knowledgeable circles is that if 16th August was the last date by which the parties should have filed the returns, why the Election Commission waited till 3rd of November to remind the parties that they have not fulfilled the mandatory submission of the returns. The EC should have proceeded in the case with what the law proposes.
Democracy has its history of evolution. India is not to be singled out for various malpractices that take place during elections. Miscreants find ways and means and if there are none they invent one. But it is the law enforcing authority (in this case the Election Commission) that is responsible for devising methods of curbing the unleashing of money power by prospective candidates.
The simple inference one can draw from the experience of these mainstream and regional parties not filing the returns in time or filing incomplete pro-forma is that they have something to hide. The Election Commission fixes the upper limit of expenditures a candidate is authorized to incur for fighting Assembly or Parliamentary seat. According to Section 86 of the Jammu & Kashmir Representation of the People Act, 1957, every contesting candidate is required to lodge a true copy of the account of his/her election expenses with the concerned District Election Officer (DEO) within 30 days of the declaration of the result of the election. Failure to lodge the account of election expenses within the time and in the manner required by law without good reason or justification may result in disqualification of the candidate concerned by the Election Commission.
All that one can say is that the action of aforementioned political parties is disappointing. People understand that they are wilfully ignoring something that is mandated and should have been done in accordance with the rules and regulations. Had they sent in the returns in time, people would have no reason and justification to cast aspersions on them? The revelation that they have advertently undermined the instructions of the Election Commission will do them no good rather it may become counter productive because the Assembly elections are now round the corner and people will carry the memory with them when they move towards the polling booths to cast their precious vote.

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