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Corporators cannot use discretionary grants before civic polls says State Election Commission
- by Webdesk
- 07 Oct 2016
The Maharashtra State Election Commission has forbidden in the incumbent corporators from spending their discretionary grants in the last three months’s of the civic body’s tenure. This decision is taken by the SEC so as to prevent the voters from being influenced in the run up to the civic polls.
A discretionary grant is nothing but the funds which are made available by the State Government to the elected representatives which are in addition to the funds allotted through budgets. This grant is expected to be used at the local level for developmental works and the decisions on spending this money, lies with the elected representatives i.e. the corporators.
The elected representatives of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC), gets Rs. 60 lakh per year in discretionary grants.
In its order, the SEC has noticed that representatives go in for major expenditure from this grant at the fag-end of their tenure prior to the elections, which influences voters. While candidates have to adhere to strict rules while spending this money while the model code of conduct is in force, there is no restriction on the elected representative’s last-minute expenditure from the discretionary grants.
The SEC order refers to a Supreme Court verdict, which says payments from discretionary grants on the eve of elections should be avoided. Since no such guidelines are in place at present, the SEC order will be applicable from November 2016 for the local body polls early in 2017.
“No elected representative can spend money from the Discretionary Grant three months prior to the termination of tenure of said local civic body or from the time [the] election programme is announced, whichever happens earlier,” the order says. Failing to adhere to the new rule will lead to suspension of the work for which money was being used, and action against the concerned officer.
A senior SEC official said, “The rule is aimed at creating a level playing field for all candidates. We want to ensure that nobody gets undue advantage of the position s/he held prior to the elections. It will control expenditure during the election campaign and ensure voters are not influenced with undue powers.”
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