*7 day-long exercise to begin from Jan 27
Mohinder Verma
JAMMU, Jan 23: Election Commission of India (ECI) has directed the Expenditure Observers deployed during the recently held Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir to start scrutiny of statements of accounts of election expenditure submitted by the candidates. This mandatory seven-day exercise would begin from January 27 when all these observers reach their allotted districts.
Official sources told EXCELSIOR that all the Expenditure Observers, who were allotted different constituencies during the Assembly elections in the State, have been directed by the Commission to reach district headquarters of their allotted constituencies on January 27 and immediately start the scrutiny of accounts statements of candidates in close coordination with the respective District Election Officers.
As per the Election Commission of India guidelines on election expenditure monitoring, the Expenditure Observers, who are the officers of the rank of Deputy Commissioner, Joint Commissioner and Commissioner in the Income Tax Department, are required to scrutinize the accounts statements of the candidates 30 days after the declaration of results of the elections.
The results of Assembly elections in Jammu and Kashmir were announced on December 23, 2014 and one-month period lapses today as such the exercise to start scrutiny of statements of accounts has become due in the light of ECI guidelines, sources said. These Expenditure Observers would stay in their respective allotted districts for seven days and assist the District Election Officers in scrutinizing the statements of accounts of election expenditure submitted by the candidates after declaration of results.
The Section 85(1) of Jammu and Kashmir Representation of People Act, 1957 makes it mandatory for every contesting candidate to keep a separate and correct account of expenditure incurred or authorized by him or by his election agent between the date of publication of the notification calling the election and the date of declaration of results (both dates inclusive). An amount of Rs 28 lakh was prescribed for each candidate to expend on various activities during electioneering.
Similarly, Section 86 of Jammu and Kashmir Representation of People Act makes it mandatory for every contesting candidate to submit a true copy of the account of election expense with the District Election Officer within 30 days of the declaration of the result of election. Failure to lodge the account of election expenses within the prescribed time and in the manner required by the law may result in disqualification of the candidate by the Election Commission under Section 24E of J&K Representation of People Act.
The Expenditure Observers, who are the eyes and ears of the Election Commission, would see whether the provisions of J&K Representation of People Act were strictly adhered to by the candidates, sources said, adding the possibility of many candidates having not ensured compliance of the ECI guidelines and provisions of J&K Representation of People Act cannot be ruled out.
According to the sources, some candidates may face trouble due to hectic electioneering by their star campaigners as expenditure incurred on the rallies wherein candidate or his election agent shared dais with the star campaigners, would be considered as candidate’s own expense by the Expenditure Observers.
Similarly, in the rallies where the candidate was not present but the banners and posters with his name were displayed, the entire expenditure other than travel expenses of the star campaigner would be considered as part of election expenditure of the candidate concerned, sources informed.
Since the Assembly elections witnessed massive campaign by the star campaigners of different political parties, the possibility of their accounts exceeding Rs 28 lakh limit cannot be ruled out, sources said.
However, the expenditure incurred on construction of helipads in connection with the visit of Prime Minister and borne by Bhartiya Janata Party would be booked in the account of election expenses of the party. But, expenditure incurred on the rallies including preparation of the stage for the rallies will be considered as apportioned to the accounts of election expenses of the candidates, who shared dais with the star campaigner, sources said while pointing towards the clarification sought from the ECI in this regard and communiqué of the Commission dated December 22, 2014.
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