Observers to scrutinise candidates’ expenses next week

Ludhiana: The expenditure records of Lok Sabha candidates would be scrutinised on May 7, 11 and 16 by election observers and it would be compulsory for the candidates or their expenditure agents to come for the purpose, said district electoral officer Pradeep Kumar Agrawal here on Friday.
He was presiding over a meeting which was held to sensitise candidates and their representatives about various issues related to upcoming Lok Sabha elections. Agrawal also informed the candidates and their representatives that as per the directions of Election Commission of India, if a criminal case is registered against any candidate, he or she would have to advertise it thrice each in print as well as electronic media on different dates, during the campaign so that the voters come to know about it.
During the meeting, the candidates were educated about the expenditure limit and ways to maintain the expenditure record. They were asked to get expenditure register checked by the expenditure observer regularly. Besides, they were also educated about model code of conduct, various permissions, working of EVM, mock poll and counting process.
Regarding scrutiny of expenditure Agrawal said, “The expenditure observers would check and match the record related to expenditure and it is compulsory for the candidate or their expenditure agent to come for this purpose and if any candidate fails to comply, he might face problem in contesting the next election.”
He informed that polling booths have been set up in all assembly constituencies of the district, where VVPAT machines would be installed along with the EVMs. The candidates were also educated about the working of EVM and VVPAT machines. They were informed that they can check their vote for 7 seconds once its polled. Prominent among those present in the meeting included expenditure observers, Police Commissioner Dr Sukhchain Singh Gill, ADC Iqbal Singh Sandhu, ADC Neeru Katyal Gupta and other candidates.