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| Lygdoh wants wide electoral reforms | | |
SANT KUMAR SHARMA
New Delhi, December 10: Former chief election commissioner B Lyngdoh has asked for closer and deeper scrutiny of expenses incurred by candidates and political parties in elections. As part of his efforts to nudge the government into considering electoral reforms, Mr Lyngdoh has joined hands with Julio Rebeiro, General (retd) Shankar Roychowdhury and former DGP I C Dwevedi to ensure transpareny and accountability of parties.
Regarding the Lok Sabha 2009 Election Expenses, based on statements filed by candidates, they have found that at least 19% candidates who contested elections failed to give details regarding these expenses.
Commenting on the analyses of the electoral expenses, Mr Lygdoh said: ``Going by the average election expenses of the candidates during the Lok Sabha elections, it seems that our politicians are very poor people. These expenses should not be computed by the government but external competent authorities.’’
Among the candidates who failed to give details of their expenses are two MPs and several contestants, including that of major parties. The expenses incurred by the candidates of all parties ranged between 50-55% (or less) of the prescribed limit of Rs 25 lakh.
Interestingly, four candidates showed expenses of more than the limit imposed by the election authorities. When analysed party-wise, most candidates of the major parties reached nowhere close to the maximum expense limit prescribed.
This happened partly because the expenses incurred by the parent political parties are not included in the details given by the candidates.
When analyzed party wise, most candidates of the major parties reached nowhere close to the maximum expense limit prescribed. The average election expenses of the candidates party-wise show that average spending of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) candidates was Rs 6.2 lakh, for the Indian National Congress (INC) it was Rs 13.7 lakh, for the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) it was Rs 12.5 lakh and for the Samajwadi Party (SP), it was Rs 8.9 lakh.
The National Election Watch (NEW) which conducts detailed periodic surveys, had sought the details of all candidates (543 constituencies) but were given details only regarding 463 Lok Sabha segments.
At least 64 candidates out of a total of 421 of the BSP have not filed the statements regarding expenses incurred by them till date.
Two MPs of the All India Trinamool Congress (AITC) headed by Railway Minister Mamata Banerjee have not filed these details. They are Kabir Suman of AITC from Jadavpur (West Bengal) and Chaudhary Mohan Jatua of the AITC who contested and won from Mathurapur (West Bengal).
In Jharkhand, where Chief Minister of Jammu & Kashmir Omar Abdullah campaigned recently in favour of the Congress candidates, at least 27 per cent candidates have criminal cases pending against them. More than half of them (14 per cent) have serious charges like kidnapping, murder, attempt to murder and dacoity etc pending against them.
At least seven of 18 candidates of the Congress, contesting in third and fourth phase of polling have serious charges against them. Similarly, some candidates from other major parties are also facing similar charges.
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