Question : Capping on Party’s Expenditure

(a) whether Election Commission of India proposes capping on party’s expenditure on candidates and if so, the details thereof;
(b) Whether Election Commission has identified unchecked money power as one of the biggest concerns and has been rooting for capping party and campaign expenditure to ensure a level playing field to all parties and to check the money power visible during every election and if so, the details thereof;
(c) whether expenditure on elections is increasing because elections to Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies are not held simultaneously and if so, the details thereof; and (d) whether the expenditure on elections will decrease if elections to Lok Sabha and Legislative Assemblies are held simultaneously and if so, the details thereof?

ANSWER
MINISTER OF LAW AND JUSTICE, COMMUNICATIONS AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
(SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a) and (b): The Election Commission of India has proposed that there should be ceiling on Party’s expenditure in all elections on the lines of the cap of expenditure for the candidates. The proposal is under examination of the Government.
(c) and (d): No empirical data are available to prove that the increase in expenditure on elections over the year is attributable to the conduct of separate elections to Lok Sabha and the State Legislative Assemblies. The Department Related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law and Justice in its 79th Report has observed that simultaneous elections would reduce the massive expenditure incurred for conduct of separate elections every year.