Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) Election

A. For Candidates

1. I am a candidate for an Assembly Constituency/Parliamentary Constituency. What is expected from me with regard to election expenditure?

Ans:a) All candidates will be provided with an Election Expenditure Register by the Returning Officer and they are required to maintain an account of election expenditure truly and correctly from the date on which he has been nominated to the date of declaration of results (both dates inclusive).

b) It is necessary to get the election expenditure account inspected at least 3 times during campaign period before the election authorities as per schedule fixed by RO.

c) All candidates have to lodge their true election expenditure account before the District Election Officer within 30 days of declaration of result.

2. What constitutes the Election Expenditure Register of a candidate, which is required to be submitted within 30 days of declaration of results?

Ans. Each contesting candidate has to lodge the following registers/ statements with the DEO within 30 days from the date of declaration of results:

(i) Day to Day account Register (with all the bills & vouchers in chronological order signed by the candidate or his election agent).

(ii) Cash register.

(iii) Bank Register (along with certified copy of the Bank statement).

(iv) Abstract Statement (Part I to IV) and Schedules I to 11 duly signed by the candidate

(v) Affidavit duly signed by the candidate.

3. Is it compulsory to have a separate bank account, exclusively for election expenditure of a candidate? When and where should it be opened?

Ans. Yes, it is compulsory to have a separate bank account, which has to be opened anytime at least one day before the date on which the candidate intends to file his/her nomination papers. It can be opened either in the name of the candidate or in the joint name with his election agent. However, the bank account should not be opened in the joint name with any family member of the candidate or any other person, if he/she is not the election agent of the candidate. The account can be opened anywhere in the State, in any bank including cooperative bank or in post offices. The details of this account shall be communicated to the Returning Officer at the time of filing nomination. The candidate has to deposit all the amount meant for election expenses and incur all his/her election expenses from this account only. Failure to open a dedicated/separate bank account for election expenditure will be construed to be failure to maintain accounts in the manner prescribed by the Commission

4. Whether all bills and vouchers are required to be lodged along with the Election Expenditure Register before the Expenditure Observer and the DEO and what are other documents required to be lodged and signed by the candidate?

Ans. Yes. under the provision made in the Conduct of Election Rules, 1961, all vouchers shall be obtained for every item of expenditure except for those items where, it is not practicable to obtain a voucher. All vouchers shall be lodged along with the account of election expenses. arranged according to the date of payment and serially numbered by the candidate or his election agent and such serial numbers shall be entered in the account. Affidavit and Abstract Statement shall necessarily be signed by the Candidate himself while rest of the documents are required to be signed by the candidate or his election agent

5.What will happen if I do not lodge the account at all or do not lodge the account in prescribed time and manner?

Ans. If a candidate fails to lodge his/her account within prescribed time or in the manner required by law or fails to lodge his/her account at all, proceedings against him/her shall be initiated under section 10A of the R. P. Act, 1951 and he/she could be disqualified by the Commission after following due procedure for being chosen as, and for being, a member of either house of Parliament or of the Legislative Assembly or Legislative Council of a State/Union Territory for a period of 3 years from the date of order of the Commission declaring the candidate to be so disqualified.

6. What is the Account Reconciliation Meeting? Whether a candidate has to attend the meeting?

Ans. Account Reconciliation Meeting is convened by the DEO on the 26th day after the date of declaration of results for reconciling the discrepancy(ies), if any, in the account of election expenses maintained by the candidate with the account statement maintained by the Accounting Team for each candidate. This opportunity may be availed by the candidates, if they so desire.

7. Whether it is necessary to incur election expenditure beyond Rs. 10,000/- by account payee cheque?

Ans. Yes. As per existing instructions of the Commission, the candidates shall incur all election expenses by account payee cheques from the Bank account opened for election purpose, excepting mino expenses where it is not possible to issue cheques. If the amount payable by candidates to any person/entity for any item of expenditure does not exceed Rs. 10,000/- during the entire process of election, then such expenditure can be incurred by cash, by withdrawing it from the bank account opened for the purpose of election. All other payments are to be made by account payee cheque from the said bank account.

8. Whether it is necessary to maintain account of election expenses incurred by the candidate before filing his nomination?

Ans. The expenditure incurred from the date on which he has been nominated to date of declaration of results, is to be accounted for in the account statement by each contesting candidate. The candidate has also to include the election related expenditure, if the expenditure incurred is on campaign material which is used during the campaign period.

9.How do the rates for different items get decided and how do I get a rate chart?

Ans. In order to facilitate the scrutiny of expenditure which is to be maintained on a daily basis by the candidates in the prescribed proforma the Commission has directed that the DEO shall compile the rate charts of the items commonly used for the election campaign in the district on the basis of the prevailing rates after consultation with the representatives of political parties. The DEO/RO shall ensure that the rate list of all such items is made available to all the candidates and to the teams monitoring election expenditure.

10. How shall a candidate account for the use of Social Media during his/her election campaign?

Ans. A candidate shall include payments made to internet companies and websites for carrying advertisements and also campaign related operational expenditure on creative development of content, operational expenditure on salaries and wages paid to the team of workers employed to maintain their Social Media accounts.

11. Do I, as a candidate, have to account for election expenses when a "Star Campaigner" holds a rally for me?

Ans. If the candidate or his election agent shares the dais with the Star Campaigner in the event of public rally or meeting, then the entire expenditure on that rally other than the travel expenses of the Star Campaigner shall be added to the candidate's account. Even if the candidate is not present on the dais but the banners/posters with the name of the candidate or the photographs of the candidate are displayed at the site of pubic rally or the name of the candidate is mentioned by the "Star Campaigner" during the rally/meeting,, then also the entire expenditure in that rally/meeting other than the travel expenses of the "Star Campaigner", will be added to the candidate's account of election expenses. If there is more than one candidate, sharing the dais or displaying banners or posters with their names in rally/meeting, then the expenses on such rally/meeting should equally be divided among all such candidates and added to their respective account.

12. How many vehicles can be used for campaigning and can the permission for the same be withdrawn?

Ans. There is no limit on number of vehicles which a candidate may use for electioneering purposes. The candidate shall have to furnish the details of such vehicles and the areas in which these will be used for campaign, to the RO or authorised Officer to get permission. The original copy of the permit should be displayed on the wind screen of the vehicle. The permit contains the number of the vehicle, date of issue of permit, name of the candidate and the area where it shall be used for campaigning. The candidate has to maintain expenditure incurred on the permitted vehicles in his day to day account register. If the candidate fails to submit his election expenditure register for inspection before the election authority on the dates scheduled by RO during campaign period even after notice served upon him by RO within 3 days, then permission of vehicle shall be withdrawn by the RO Any vehicle used for campaigning without due authorization/permit by the authorized officer shall be deemed to be campaigning unauthorisedly for the candidate and may attract penal provision of Chapter IX A of the IPC and shall therefore, be immediately taken out of the campaigning exercise.

B. For Political Parties

1. What are the statements required to be filed by Political Parties?

Ans. Political parties have to file following statements:-

Contribution reports- by 30 September every year or such date as extended by CBDT for filing Income Tax Return

Annual Audited account-by 31" October every year

Statement of election expenditure- within 75 days of completion of Assembly election and 90 days of completion of Lok Sabha election.

Part election expenditure statement giving details of amount disbursed to the candidates by political parties shall be filed within 30 days of declaration of result.

Recognized political parties have to file aforesaid statements with the Election Commission of India, while Un-recognized Political Parties have to file the same with the Chief Electoral Officer of the respective States/UTs in the prescribed time and manner.

2. Who is a 'Star Campaigner" of a political party?

Ans. Election campaigners of a registered political party (not exceeding 40 in number in case of recognised political party and not exceeding 20 in number in case of a party other than a recognised political party), whose names have been communicated to the Commission and the Chief Electoral Officer of the state, within a period of seven days from the date of issue of notification for such election are called "Star Campaigners" The expenditure incurred by these leaders (Star Campaigners) on account of travel by air or by any other means of transport for propagating the programme of a political party shall not be deemed to be the expenditure in connection with the election incurred/ authorised by a candidate of that political party or his election agent.

3. What is the limit of donation to be received in cash by candidates from a single person/entity/ party?

Ans. The limit for receiving cash donations from any individual/ entity or political party is Rs. 10,000/- If donation exceeds Rs 10,000/-, it should be made through cheque/draft or e-payment.

4. My political party is in alliance with other political party (ies) then how the election expenditure shall be accounted for by the candidate(s)?

Ans. There is no provision in law as regards to parties in alliance and therefore, the whole expenditure is subject to be accounted for by the candidate for whom campaigning has been done by any party(parties) that has(have) alliance with the party of the candidate.

5. Can a Star Campaigner carry cash during electioneering?

Ans. Yes. A Star Campaigner may carry cash up to Rs. 1 Lac exclusively for his/her personal use or any party functionary with a certificate from the treasurer of the party.

6. How will the expenses during rallies of "Star Campaigners" be accounted for?

Ans. The expenditure incurred by the leaders of a Political Party (Star Campaigners) on account of travel by air or by any other means shall be accounted as expenditure of the Political Party. If any attendant including security guard, medical attendant, or any other person including any member of the party. who is not a candidate in the constituency concerned, or any representative of the electronic or print media, travels with the leader (star-campaigner) of the political party in his vehicle/aircraft/ helicopter etc., then the travel expenses of such leader shall be wholly booked to the account of political party, provided that the said member of political party or media person or attendant sharing the transport with the leader (star campaigner) do not play any role in election campaign for any candidate in any manner. However, if any such person(s) sharing the transport with the leader plays any role in election campaign for the candidate(s) in any manner or if any candidate(s) travels with such leader in his vehicle/aircraft/helicopter, then 50% of the travel expenditure of the leader shall be apportioned to such candidate (s).

7. If a person is provided with Z+ security then how his expenditure will be accounted?

Ans. The cost of propulsion of State-owned one bullet proof vehicles by the persons provided with 'Z+ (Z plus) security should be borne by the person concerned when it is used for non-official purposes during electioneering. In case of the visiting political functionaries, who are "Star Campaigners", the expenditure, will be accounted for in the party's account. If the Star Campaigner is a candidate, the propulsion cost of vehicle in the constituency shall be accounted for in his election expenditure account. If the party functionary enjoying the security facility is not a Star Campaigner, and he campaigns for the candidate, the cost of propulsion of the security vehicle, used for such campaign shall be added to the candidate's account.

8. Whether the expenditure incurred on construction of barricades and rostrums is to be booked in the account of candidate(s) or political party where "leader" (star campaigner) of a political party participate in a rally/meeting?

Ans. Expenditure incurred on construction of barricades/ rostrums etc., either made by government agencies or by any private agency, on account of security considerations for a public rally/meeting, where a "leader" of a political party(star campaigner)is participating, is to be booked in the account of the candidate in whose constituency the rally/ meeting is taking place. If a group of candidates is present at the dais at that time, then the expenditure will be apportioned equally amongst those candidates.

C. Election Machinery

1. Who are the members of the District Expenditure Monitoring Committee (DEMC) and what are the functions of DEMC?

Ans. DEMC consists of (i) Expenditure Observer in charge of the Constituency, (ii) District Election Officer (DEO) and (iii) Dy. DEO/Officer in charge of Expenditure Monitoring of the Dista DEMC shall have to decide the case of suppression of election expenditure incurred by candidate after examining the evidence mentioned in the notice served upon the candidate by RO and the reply of the candidate thereto, preferably within 72 hours from the date of receipt of the reply from the candidate, whether such suppressed expenditure shall be added or not to the election expenses account of the candidate.

2. When does the Expenditure Observer report in the district HQ and what are the duties he is required to perform?

Ans. An Expenditure Observer has to make three visits to the ACs/Dist. Hq assigned to him.

1st Visit-The Expenditure Observer shall reach the constituency on the day of the notification of elections for the duration of 3 clear days. During this visit he has to meet all the teams, engaged in election expenditure monitoring. He coordinates with DEO, SP. Nodal Officers of Police. Income Tax and State Excise and other enforcement agencies. His contact numbers are also notified so that he can receive complaints from candidates and public regarding any untoward incident or malpractice during election process.

2nd Visit- The Expenditure Observer shall again visit the constituency for the second time, on the date immediately after the date of withdrawal of candidatures and shall remain in the constituency during the entire campaign period, and shall leave the constituency only after the poll. However, he has to stay till counting of votes, if he is so directed by the Commission. During this period he periodically inspects the functioning of all the teams engaged in expenditure monitoring and wherever there is laxity or irregularities in functioning of any of the teams, he brings it to the notice of the DEO. He inspects the expenditure register of each candidate at least three times during the campaign period and give his comments on the discrepancies.

3rd Visit- The Expenditure Observer has to visit the district once again on 25th day after the declaration of results of election and stay in the district for & clear days to assist the DEO in scrutinizing the statements of accounts of election expenditure submitted by the candidates after the declaration of results. He should be present in the Account Reconciliation Meeting to be convened by the DEO on the 26th day after the declaration of results.

3. Which teams form part of the Election Expenditure Monitoring Mechanism?

Ans. The teams form part of Election Expenditure Monitoring Mechanism are:-

Expenditure Observer (EO)

Assistant Expenditure Observer (AEO).

Video Surveillance Team (VST),

Video Viewing Team (VVT),

Accounting Team (AT).

Complaint Monitoring Control Room & Call Centre,

Media Certification & Monitoring Committee (MCMC),

Flying Squads (FS)

Static Surveillance Teams (SST)

4. How many inspections are required to be carried out by the Expenditure Observer?

Ans. A total number of 3 inspections are to be carried out by the Expenditure Observer. The dates of inspection are made known to all the candidates by the RO in advance. The last inspection is to be done not before 3 days from the date of poll, so that major campaign expenditure is covered under inspection.

5. What is Shadow Observation Register (SOR)?

Ans. A Shadow Observation Register (SOR) is to be maintained by the Accounting Team in a given format in respect of each candidate. This is to be maintained to cross check items of expenses actually incurred on major rallies/processions/meetings etc., with what is reported by the candidate.

6. What is Folder of Evidence (FE)?

Ans. Folder of Evidence has to be maintained by the Accounting Team along with Shadow Observation Register for each candidate Evidences in the form of CD/DVD/documents etc, are cross referenced for the expenses entered in the Shadow Observation Register.

7. What are the restrictions on printing of pamphlets, posters etc., relating to election campaign?

Ans. No person shall print or publish, or cause to be printed or published, any election pamphlet or poster which does not bear on its face the names and addresses of the printer and the publisher thereof. He should not do so unless a declaration as to the identity of the publisher thereof, signed by him and attested by two persons, personally known to him, is delivered by him to the printer in duplicate. Moreover, within a reasonable time after printing of the document, one copy of the declaration is to be sent by the printer together with one copy of the document to the District Election Officer concerned or to the CEO if printed in the capital of the State. If a person contravenes any of the above said provisions mentioned above, then he may be punished with imprisonment which may extend to six months and with a fine up to Rs. 2,000/-

8. No. of days within which the National and State level political parties are required to send list of "leaders" (star campaigners) of their party to CEO and ECI?

Ans. The list of "leaders" (star campaigners) should be communicated to the Election Commission and the CEO of the state within a period of 7 days from the date of issue of notification of elections. The recognized political party (National/State) can send names of 40 persons and a registered political party can send names of 20 persons to be treated as "Star Campaigners" The travel expenditure of these "Star Campaigners" is not added to the expenditure of the candidate.

9.What is the limit of carrying cash/gift items during election period?

Ans. During checking by Flying Squad/ Static Surveillance Team, if any cash exceeding Rs. 50,000/- is found in a vehicle carrying a candidate, his agent, or party worker or carrying posters or election materials or any drugs, liquor, arms or gift items which are valued at more than Rs. 10,000/-, likely to be used for inducement of electors or any other illicit articles are found in a vehicle, shall be subject to seizure.

10. In what circumstances shall the IT Dept. be informed about seizures of cash/goods?

Ans. If cash of more than Rs. 10 Lakh is found in a vehicle and there is no suspicion of commission of any crime or linkage to any candidate or agent or party functionary, then the SST shall not seize the cash, and pass on the information to the Income Tax Authority, for necessary action under Income Tax Laws.

11. Who is the authority an aggrieved person should appeal/approach for releasing the seized cash etc., during election?

Ans. Committee for taking decision on cash seized at District level consists of the following:

(i) CEO. Zila Parishad/CDO/PD, DRDA.

(ii) Nodal Officer of Expenditure Monitoring in the District Election Office (Convenor), and

(iii) District Treasury Officer

The procedure of appeal against seizure has to be mentioned in the seizure document and it has to be informed to the aggrieved person at the time of seizure. In no case, the matter relating to cash/ seized valuables shall be kept pending for more than seven days after the date of poll, unless any FIR/Complaint is filed. The functioning of the Committee has to be given wide publicity so that there is no inconvenience to the public.

12. Where should one complain about incidents of bribery/ liquor/cash distribution?

Ans. There is Complaint monitoring Cell/ Call Centre in each district and its number is published in media also. Complaint can be made on this number. The Flying Squad will immediately reach the spot where any incident of bribery etc., is allegedly taking place.