With the curtains down on poll campaign and voting, candidates of different political parties have now shifted attention to tracking their election related expenses.
The candidates are consulting professional accounting firms to prepare their accounts as mandated by the Election Commission. The twin elections for Lok Sabha and the state assembly ended on Thursday.
"In order to prepare the documents on expenditure, we are consulting professional accounting firms as the Election Commission (EC) has directed to maintain a register on day-to-day expenditure," said a candidate who contested the Lok Sabha elections in Berhampur constituency.
Other candidates said professional help was needed since the accounting system for poll expenses is very complicated.
"I have constituted a separate group to look into the accounting system as per the guidelines of the EC. The group includes the students of accounting. They have rendered the service voluntarily. Now, they are preparing the final report to be submitted to the EC," said a ruling party candidate in Ganjam district on condition of anonymity.
The candidates need to submit their election expenditure within a month of announcement of the election results. The results are likely to be declared on May 16 after the counting of votes. The EC has also provided a booklet running into over 300 pages, containing various instructions and procedures to maintain the election expenditure from the day of filing of nominations.
The EC has pegged the expense ceiling at Rs 70 lakh for a Parliamentary candidate and Rs 28 lakh for an aspirant to the state assembly. The EC has also asked the candidates to open a separate bank account to cater to poll related transactions, said Ganjam district collector Prem Chandra Chaudhary
"I have rendered services for maintaining the accounts and preparing final report for a Lok Sabha candidate this time without any charge," said P N Dave, a tax consultant. He said there was no difficulty to maintain the expenditure for a candidate since almost all payments were made though cheques.
During the campaigning, the EC observer (expenditure) had verified the accounts of the candidates thrice. No contestant in Ganjam district spent beyond the prescribed ceiling, sources said.
