New Delhi: The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has suggested to the Election Commission of India (ECI) to increase the limit on expenditure for the Bihar assembly election due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Election expenditure
“Following the pandemic, our party has suggested to the Election Commission of India to increase the election expenditure as there would be added expenses,” a BJP source told ANI.
In its letter, the BJP said the pandemic will lead to extra expenses on COVID-19 protective gear that has been made mandatory by the central government.
But the BJP believes that whether to hold an election or postpone it falls absolutely within the ambit of Election Commission and refrained from making any comment on this issue.
Campaign expense
The ECI has limited the campaign expense per candidate in the assembly election to Rs 28 lakh. This includes expenses on public meetings, rallies, advertisements, posters, banners vehicles and advertisements.
The Lok Jansakti party, an ally of NDA, in its suggestion, has also asked ECI to conduct the Bihar election after things improve.
Opposition political parties which have submitted the suggestions have also highlighted the ongoing pandemic situation and flood.
ECI
The ECI had asked the national and state political parties to give their suggestions by August 11 2020, regarding election campaign and public meetings with regard to the general assembly election in Bihar amid COVID19 pandemic. Earlier the last date of submission was July 31.
Assembly tenure of Bihar will end on November 29. President’s rule has to be imposed if the election process is not completed by Nov 28 in Bihar.