The Election Commission has fixed Rs 109 as the maximum amount that a presidential candidate can spend per voter on election campaign.
Under the third section of the Election Expenses Regulation Act No. 3 of 2023, the limit of expenditure that a candidate contesting in the presidential election may incur on behalf of a voter has been published in a special gazette.
The Election Commission said that these expenditure limits have been determined in consultation with all recognized political party candidates, candidates of other political parties and candidates who have filed nominations for the presidential election.
Accordingly, it has been informed that a candidate can spend not more than 109 rupees on behalf of a registered voter in the voter list and a maximum of 186 crore 82 lakh 98,586 rupees.
A presidential candidate can accept 60 percent of that amount, or one hundred twelve million nine hundred and seventy-nine hundred and sixty percent, as his or her campaign expenses.
Apart from this, the remaining 40 percent i.e. seventy four crore seventy three hundred 19,434 and 40 percent can be spent on the campaign work of the candidate to the secretary of the recognized political party or other political party or to the voters as mentioned in the gazette notification issued by the Election Commission.
An expenditure report including election campaign expenses must be submitted to the Election Commission within 21 days of the declaration of election results.
The Election Commission points out that the report should contain detailed information on how money was received and spent for election campaign expenses.
The Election Commission has further indicated in its gazette notice that not submitting the report by the specified date or having errors in the reports is an illegal act and the Election Commission should be subject to the punishment mentioned in the Election Voting Act.
