EC to allow parties to spend more on polls

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The Election Commission (EC) has decided to raise the ceiling of polls expenditures of political parties contesting parliamentary election with stringent conditions attached to ensure financial transparency of the parties.

A registered political party, if it fields over 200 candidates, can spend Tk 3 crore for election purposes. If the number of candidates is in between 100 to 200, it can spend Tk 2 crore and Tk 1 crore if the number of candidates is below 100, says the EC’s revised proposals regarding polls expenditures.

But expenditures of candidates fielded by a party will be added with that of the party for election purposes from the date of announcement of election schedule to polling day.

The existing ceiling of a party’s polls expenditures is Tk 1.50 crore, Tk 1 crore and Tk 75 lakh respectively. But the provisions made in 2001 were not enforced in the eighth parliamentary election in 2001.

So, none of the political parties which contested that election submitted their expenditure reports to the EC, and it took no action against them.

The EC yesterday started sending its modified proposals concerning polls expenditures to political parties with the invitations to them for second round of electoral reform talks from February 24, sources in the EC Secretariat said.

The proposals say the funds of a political party contesting parliamentary election shall be deposited and maintained in any scheduled bank.

Any such party will have to submit its report on election expenditures to the EC within 90 days after the election. The report must show the opening and closing balance of the bank account and the amount of money the party received as donations within the time frame.

“If a political party fails to submit its election expenditure report within the timeframe, the Election Commission can extend it by 30 days for submission of report. If the party again fails to do so, the commission can extend it by another 15 days with a fine of Tk 10,000,” says the EC proposal. “Registration of the political party will be cancelled if it finally fails to submit the report.”

In addition to this, if a political party spends more than the amount permitted, it will be fined Tk 10 lakh.

In its earlier proposals in April last year, the EC said political parties would have to submit reports on election expenditures in 30 days after the polls.

Most of the political parties participating in the first round of electoral reform talks in between September and November last year agreed on the EC proposal for submission of polls expenditure reports. But they urged the EC to extend the time frame for submission of the reports. One or two of the parties also urged it to increase the ceiling of election expenditures.

Considering the views of the parties, the EC has now come up with the revised proposals.

According to the EC’s proposals for electoral reforms, political parties intending to contest parliamentary election must be registered with it by meeting a set of criteria and will have to maintain financial transparency to run party activities.

The EC however has yet to decide about candidates’ polls expenditures.

Sources in the EC hinted that the ceiling of a candidate’s expenditure might also be raised from Tk 5 lakh now.

Candidates might be allowed to spend money considering the number of voters in their respective constituencies, the sources said referring to the EC’s new plan in this regard.

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