Publish poll expense records in 72 hours: EC to state officers

The Election Commission today asked state electoral officers to publish poll expense records of all candidates in the recently concluded elections within 72 hours of the receipt of such information from the contestants.
The EC issued orders in this regard to all Chief Electoral Officers (CEOs) of the states who will further notify district election officers for compliance of this order which specifically pertains to the 2014 Lok Sabha polls and Assembly elections in states like Odisha and Andhra Pradesh.
Under the Representation of the People Act, every contesting candidate is bound to lodge account of his or her election expenses with the district election officer of the constituency concerned within 30 days of date of declaration of the results.

"To bring transparency and quick dissemination of information for public, Election Commission has today issued instructions to CEOs that all the election expenses accounts lodged by the candidate shall be uploaded on CEO/DEO website within 72 hours of the receipt of the information from the candidate, without fail," the EC said in a statement.
The EC website will also have a link to all these states and their respective candidates' accounts.
The poll panel has also stipulated that if any member of the public wants to obtain a copy of any candidate's expenses, he or she can do so by paying Rs 1 per page for the copy of the original documents and in case he or she wants to obtain a CD/DVD of important events or advertisements carried out by the candidate, that can be obtained at a cost of Rs 300 per CD or DVD.

The EC has stipulated that such a request by a member of the public has to be complied by the DEOs office in 48 hours time from the receipt of such a request.
The poll results for Lok Sabha and Assembly 2014 were announced on May 16 and candidates are expected to furnish their expenditure records by June 16 under the law.