The Uttar Pradesh Election Commission has increased the spending limit for candidates in the upcoming rural and urban local body polls in the state.
Joint Election Commissioner Sudha Verma has sent a letter to the district administrations, informing them about the increase in the expenditure limit for the elections this time.
The expenditure for the election of mayor, municipality and nagar panchayat president has been increased. Along with this, the enrollment fee and security deposit have also been increased.
Here is the revised expenditure list:
– In municipal corporations that have 80 or more wards, the mayor candidates will be able to spend up to Rs 40 lakh. During last election, the upper limit for spending was Rs 25 lakhs.
– Where the number of wards is less than 80, candidates will be able to spend Rs 35 lakhs, an increase from Rs 20 lakhs earlier.
– The candidates for the post of municipal councillor will be able to spend a maximum of Rs 3 lakh in the election, an increase from Rs 2.5 lakh earlier.
– In municipalities with the number of wards between 25 to 40, the expenditure limit for the post of president is now Rs 9 lakh, which was earlier Rs 6 lakhs.
– In municipalities with number of wards between 41 to 55, the claimants for the post of president will be able to spend Rs 12 lakhs instead of Rs 8 lakh earlier.
– Significantly, the limit of election expenditure has also been increased for the candidates for the posts of nagar panchayat president and member. The maximum limit of election expenditure for the post of president has been raised to Rs 2.5 lakh, which was 1.5 lakh whereas the maximum expenditure limit for the members has been fixed at Rs 50,000, which till now was Rs 30,000.
– The enrollment fee and security deposit has also been increased. The nomination fee for the mayor candidate for the general category has been fixed at Rs 1,000 and the security deposit at Rs 12,000. The enrollment fee for the reserved category is Rs 500 and the security deposit is Rs 6,000. For general category candidates for municipal councillor, the nomination fee is Rs 400 and the security deposit is Rs 2,500. The enrollment fee for the reserved category is Rs 200 and the security deposit is Rs 1,250.
– For general category candidates contesting for the municipality president, a nomination fee of Rs 500 will be charged along with a security deposit of Rs 8,000. For the reserved category candidates, the enrollment fee would be Rs 250 and security deposit would be Rs 4,000.
– The nomination for general category candidates contesting for municipality member post is Rs 200 and the security deposit is Rs 2,000. For reserved category candidates, the nomination fee is Rs 100 and security deposit is Rs 1,000.
– For general category candidates contesting for the post of nagar panchayat president, the nomination fee is Rs 250 and the security deposit is Rs 5,000. For the reserved category candidates, the nomination fee is Rs 125 and the security deposit is Rs 2,500. For the member post, the enrollment fee is Rs 100 for general candidates and the security deposit is Rs 2,000. For the reserved category candidates, nomination fee is Rs 50 and security deposit is Rs 1,000.
According to the Joint Election Commissioner, after the reorganisation and delimitation of wards in municipal bodies, the report is being awaited at the commission level. After the receipt of this report, the work of revision of voter list will be started.
The tenure of the present board in the municipal bodies is ending on January 5, 2024. In this regard, preparations have been made to hold elections in November-December.
