Political parties in one voice demanded the Election Commission on Tuesday to raise the cap on election spending in view of the steep inflation in recent times. The only exception was the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP).
At a meeting, called by the EC, representatives from all recognised national and State parties took part to express their strong objection to the current slab of `16-40 lakh for lok Sabha elections as infeasible. Most parties were even against any move by the EC to bring election manifestos under the purview of the Model Code of Conduct.
“The BJP is for taking into account the rising cost of everything over the years,” party leader Mukhtar Abbas Naqvi told reporters after the meeting.
The CPM, JD(U) and other regional parties also pushed for raising the expenditure cap. Though the Congress representatives, who attended the meeting were not available for any comment, sources said they spoke in support of raising the cap.
“You look at it this way. One lok Sabha seat has on average five Assembly seats and the limit for Assembly poll expenditure is `16 lakh. So there should be an increase,” Javed Raza of the JD(U) said. The CPM also supported an appropriate increase. However, Aam Aadmi Party said it was happy with the current limits.
“We kept our expenditure in Delhi Assembly polls under limit. We did well. We think the expenditure slab for lok Sabha polls is appropriate and political parties can fight elections adhering to the limit,” Pankaj Gupta of AAP said.
The BJP urged the commission to complete elections in as few phases as possible and argued against holding polls in May in big states like UP and Bihar where weather would become very hot. It will result in low polling percentage and hurt the EC’s campaign for higher turnout, Naqvi said.
Parties like BJP and JD(U) opposed inclusion of manifestos in the Model Code of Conduct while the CPI said that freebies should be banned as they are nothing but allurement for the voters. The CPI’s view was opposed by many parties which said manifestos shared their long-term vision with the masses.