Civic polls: Candidates asked to spend within the prescribed limits

Nagarkurnool: Election observer for municipal elections to Nagarkurnool district Mohammad Yunus on Friday stated that all the candidates who are filing nominations and going to contest the municipal elections must show their accounts for every paisa they spent on the elections and a detailed election spending affidavit must be submitted to the Election Commission after the completion of the elections.

The observer, speaking at the Nagarkurnool municipal office on Friday, said that every candidate contesting the elections must be aware of the Election Commission's norms and regulations and accordingly, they must follow the code of conduct set by the State Election Commission.

Adding further, he said that it was the duty of every candidate to know about the rules and regulations and ensure that they do not do anything unethical or illegal which goes against the code of conduct. "The contesting candidates must maintain a separate account to keep track of their day-to-day spending in the elections. Right from the day, they file the nominations, every contestant must show their spending to the Election Commission until the elections are over or else the permits for the vehicles of the contestants will be forfeited and they will not be allowed to contest the elections next time," warned the observer.

As per the Election Commission guidelines, candidates who are contesting for the wards are permitted to spend only up to Rs 1 lakh for their elections. In view of the above, the election observer directed the contestants to file the details of their daily spending in the municipal office from the day they file their papers.

The candidates are responsible to show their own expenses to the election observer and they must get their expenditure register checked twice by the election authorities, or else they will be booked under IPC Section 171 and they would be liable for stringent action if they violate the Election Commission code, informed the election observer.

Adding further, the observer also advised the contestants not to conduct public meetings near religious centres and said that the concerned candidates if they get printed the wall posters, and pamphlets, the name and address of the publisher must also be mentioned on them. For any rallies such as bike rally or any other vehicle rally, the members must take prior permission from the election officials concerned. He also instructed that there should not be any kind of distribution of liquor, money or any other gifts to the voters to influence them in the elections. If any kind of such acts were found, the contestants would be considered as violators of election code and would be debarred from the elections.