Candidates in GP polls have to submit accounts

Adilabad: All the candidates who had contested in the recent polls for gram panchayats and wards have to submit their election expenditure to the poll officials. According to sources, in the past, only winners in the panchayat polls were asked to submit their poll expenditure. But this time, all the candidates who had contested in the polls were asked to submit their accounts.

The District Panchayat Officer (DPO) has sent a circular to the Mandal Parishad Development Officer (MPDOs) to submit the particulars. The candidates have to submit the particulars within 45 days after the poll date. The polls were held on July 23, 27 and 31.

As many as 2,907 candidates who had contested for sarpanch posts and 13,841 candidates who had contested for 5,312 wards have to submit their accounts. As per poll officials’ guidelines, in the panchayats with more than 10,000 population, the contesting candidates can spend up to Rs 80,000 for sarpanch post and Rs 10,000 for ward member post. In the panchayats with less than 10,000 population, candidates can spend Rs 40,000 for sarpanch post and Rs 6,000 for ward member post. Now, almost all the candidates are facing problems to submit the poll expenditure accounts. If they fail to submit their accounts, they would be barred from contesting polls for three years.