Polling for 272 wards of three municipal bodies in Delhi is to be held in April. The schedule has not been announced by the commission yet.
“I, SK Srivastava, State Election Commissioner of the National Capital Territory of Delhi, hereby fix the ceiling of expenditure to be incurred by a candidate in election to one ward of the three Municipal Corporations of Delhi, namely, North Delhi, South Delhi and East Delhi. Thereafter Rs 8 lakh will be held as Rs.
Municipal officials said that in the last municipal elections 2017, the maximum expenditure limit was Rs 5.75 lakh. In the 2004 Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) elections, the maximum expenditure limit was Rs 4 lakh, which was raised to Rs 5 lakh in 2012.
“This time it will be Rs 8 lakh,” an office-bearer of the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) told PTI on Sunday.
However, a senior official of the State Election Commission said that last year the expenditure limit in the MCD by-election was Rs 7 lakh.
The by-elections for five seats in the municipal bodies were held in February 2021 and the results were declared in March 2021. Of those five, two were from Uttar Nigam and three from East Nigam. Janakpuri SDMC councilor Narendra Chawla appreciated the decision and said it would help in establishing transparency during elections.
“Raising the spending limit is a good move. In the last elections some candidates had exceeded the prescribed expenditure limit anyway. Those who crossed the limit used to generate fake bills to fit the expenditure within the limit. But now This decision to increase the limit will bring transparency,” claimed Chawla.
The North and South Delhi Municipal Corporations have 104 wards each. East Delhi Municipal Corporation has 64 wards. Half the wards are reserved for women candidates. Wards are also reserved for Scheduled Caste candidates.
In the last MCD elections, the BJP registered an impressive victory, returning to power in three corporations by winning 181 out of 272 wards. Its nearest rival, the Aam Aadmi Party, managed to win only 49 wards, while the Congress secured 31 wards in the 2017 elections.
Independent candidates won three in North Delhi, four in South Delhi and one ward in East Delhi.
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