ISLAMABAD -UNS: The average inflation in the country is 33 per cent however, the expenditure of a candidate on the election campaign remains unchanged and is still according to the Election Act 2017.
According to the Act, a National Assembly candidate can spend Rs4 million while those running for provincial assemblies can spend Rs2 million.
The expenditure for the election campaign has been changed six times since 1970.
According to the National and Provincial Assemblies Election Ordinance 1970, a National Assembly candidate could spend Rs25,000 while provincial assembly candidate could spend Rs15,000.
In 1977, the amount for the election campaign was increased to Rs40,000 for the National Assembly and Rs25,000 for provincial assembly – the amount remained unchanged for the 1985 polls.
The amount increased significantly for the 1988 polls as a candidate could spend Rs500,000 for the National Assembly and Rs300,000 for provincial assembly. It remained same for the 1990 polls.
Candidates’ expenditure on election campaigns was doubled in the 1993 polls as a candidate for National Assembly could spend Rs1 million and of provincial assembly Rs600,000.
The Election Commission Ordinance 2002 was introduced in that year election and a National Assembly candidate could spend Rs1.5 million and provincial assembly candidate Rs1 million.
The ECP did not change the amount for election campaign for the 2013 polls.
The Election Act 2017 was introduced and there was massive increase in the amount of money that candidates could spend in campaigns – Rs4 million for the National and Rs2 million for provincial assembly.
It should be noted that despite skyrocketing inflation and the value of rupee depreciating regularly against the dollar, the amount that candidates could spend in 2023 polls remain unchanged.
The ECP should keep the ground realities in focus and increase the amount for election campaigns so that rules of ECP are not violated.
