An expenditure limit of ₹40 lakh has been set for candidates who wish to contest for the post of mayor while the limit will be ₹3 lakh for councillor candidates, officials of the Ghaziabad district administration said on Tuesday, adding that the limit has been set on the directions of the Uttar Pradesh election commission.
The Ghaziabad district has nine local bodies, including the Ghaziabad municipal corporation, and the district goes to polls on May 11. The state election commission has set a limit of ₹40 lakh for candidates contesting for the mayoral post (corporations having 80 or more residential wards), while the expenditure limit is ₹35 lakh for mayoral candidates in corporation having less than 80 wards.
The Ghaziabad municipal corporation has 100 residential wards.
“Ddifferent expenditure limits have also been defined for the post of chairpersons of the other local bodies and the members,” said Vipin Kumar, additional district magistrate and nodal officer for local bodies.
Apart from the municipal corporation, the district has four nagar palikas of Modinagar (34 wards), Muradnagar (25 wards), Khoda (34 wards) and Loni (55 wards). Besides these, there are four nagar panchayats of Patla (10 wards), Faridnagar (11 wards), Dasna (15 wards) and Niwari (10 wards).
According to the state election commission’s directions, candidates contesting for the post of chairperson of nagar palikas will have expenditure limit of ₹9 lakh (25-40 wards), while the limit will be ₹12 lakh in local bodies having 41-55 wards.
The candidates contesting for the post of members of nagar palikas will have an expenditure limit of ₹2 lakh.
Candidates contesting for the post of chairpersons of nagar panchayats have an expenditure limit of ₹2.5 lakh while those contesting for the post of members have a limit of ₹50,000.
“To keep a check on expenditure, we have decided to form 16 flying squads. Five will be deployed in the corporation limits, while eight will be deployed in the four nagar palikas and the remaining three will be deployed in the four nagar panchayats. The teams will physically verify the expenditure incurred by candidates on public rallies, publicity material, payments to campaign staff. The amount to be spend on each item of food, publicity material and others will be decided soon,” Kumar said.
Officials said permission for holding election campaigns should be taken beforehand by candidates. The city magistrate will provide permission in city areas while the respective subdivisional magistrates will permit events in other panchayat and palika areas.
