 "I-T dept to start monitoring on election spend this month")
With the Election Commission keeping a strict vigil on campaign expenditure, the income tax department will roll out its monitoring exercise over the next ten to fifteen days.
The income tax department will not only keep a tab on expenditure at the district level, but also monitor airports, railway stations and bus terminus, to catch high value transactions in cash, according to G Pande, chief commissioner of income tax (CCA), Kolkata.
“According to the instructions sent by the EC, we will also keep a watch on cash transactions, which in the past, have been found to take place ahead of elections, in crowded areas,” said Pande.
Also on the radar are high value transactions through the banks. The EC has instructed the tax department to probe into transactions, in the event of more than Rs 10 lakh of cash being withdrawn from banks in districts on one day, said Pande.
According to a recent report by the Centre For Media Studies, over the next one month politicians are expected to spend about $5 billion on campaigning, an amount second only to the most expensive US presidential campaign so far.
This year, the EC today raised the ceiling on poll expenditure for a Lok Sabha seat from Rs 40 lakh to Rs. 70 lakh, a 75 per cent hike over last elections, in bigger states such as Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka. For smaller states, the limit was raised from Rs 22 lakh to Rs 54 lakh.
In the first elections, the government spent Rs 0.60 on an elector whereas it went on spending Rs 12 in 2009. Cost wise, 2004 General Elections was the heaviest on government exchequer with about Rs 1114 Crore spent in the elections. This was the elections when per elector cost was also the highest. Government spent Rs 17 on an elector. Significantly, there was increase in the election cost by 17.53 per cent vis-à-vis 1999 General Elections even when there was reduction in number of polling stations by 11.26 per cent, according to a recent press release by the EC.
The income tax department will not only keep a tab on expenditure at the district level, but also monitor airports, railway stations and bus terminus, to catch high value transactions in cash, according to G Pande, chief commissioner of income tax (CCA), Kolkata.
“According to the instructions sent by the EC, we will also keep a watch on cash transactions, which in the past, have been found to take place ahead of elections, in crowded areas,” said Pande.
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This apart, in West Bengal, the income tax department will set up a control room in Kolkata, depute about 100 officers, especially to monitor election expenditure. Of this, about of 43 officials would be sent to different districts of the state.
Also on the radar are high value transactions through the banks. The EC has instructed the tax department to probe into transactions, in the event of more than Rs 10 lakh of cash being withdrawn from banks in districts on one day, said Pande.
According to a recent report by the Centre For Media Studies, over the next one month politicians are expected to spend about $5 billion on campaigning, an amount second only to the most expensive US presidential campaign so far.
This year, the EC today raised the ceiling on poll expenditure for a Lok Sabha seat from Rs 40 lakh to Rs. 70 lakh, a 75 per cent hike over last elections, in bigger states such as Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka. For smaller states, the limit was raised from Rs 22 lakh to Rs 54 lakh.
In the first elections, the government spent Rs 0.60 on an elector whereas it went on spending Rs 12 in 2009. Cost wise, 2004 General Elections was the heaviest on government exchequer with about Rs 1114 Crore spent in the elections. This was the elections when per elector cost was also the highest. Government spent Rs 17 on an elector. Significantly, there was increase in the election cost by 17.53 per cent vis-à-vis 1999 General Elections even when there was reduction in number of polling stations by 11.26 per cent, according to a recent press release by the EC.
| Election Expenditure by Central Government for all 15 Lok Sabha Elections | ||||
| Expenditure (Rs Cr) | No of Electors | Expenditure per elector (Rs) | Polling Stations | |
| 1952 | 10.45 | 17,32,12,343 | 0.6 | 1,96,084 |
| 1957 | 5.9 | 19,36,52,179 | 0.3 | 2,20,478 |
| 1962 | 7.32 | 21,63,61,569 | 0.3 | 2,38,031 |
| 1967 | 10.8 | 25,02,07,401 | 0.4 | 2,43,693 |
| 1971 | 11.61 | 27,41,89,132 | 0.4 | 3,42,918 |
| 1977 | 23.04 | 32,11,74,327 | 0.7 | 3,73,910 |
| 1980 | 54.77 | 35,62,05,329 | 1.5 | 4,36,813 |
| 1984-85 $ | 81.51 | 40,03,75,333 | 2 | 5,06,058 |
| 1989 | 154.22 | 49,89,06,129 | 3.1 | 5,80,798 |
| 1991-92 # | 359.1 | 5,11,533,598 | 7 | 5,91,020* |
| 1996 | 597.34 | 59,25,72,288 | 10 | 7,67,462 |
| 1998 | 666.22 | 60,58,80,192 | 11 | 7,73,494 |
| 1999 | 947.68 | 61,95,36,847 | 15 | 7,74,651 |
| 2004 | 1113.88 | 67,14,87,930 | 17 | 6,87,402 |
| 2009 | 846.67 | 71,69,85,101 | 12 | 8,30,866 |
| Source: Ministry of Law and Social Justice & ECI website, PIB | ||||