Delhi government holds back Rs.70 crore of election expenses over ’bill discrepancies’

Mangalore Today News Network

New Delhi, Sep 04, 2014:  Nine months after the conclusion of the Delhi Assembly elections, the polls continue to raise hackles within several verticals in the Delhi government.

Mail Today has found out that the Delhi government’s finance department has held back the release of funds exceeding Rs.70 crore for expenses incurred during the days preceding the election as well as the polling day for all nine districts in the Capital - Central, North, South, New Delhi, North-West, East, North-East, South-West and West.


This, however, is just the tip of the iceberg. The use of funds for the conduct of the recent Lok Sabha polls is also under the scanner of the finance department.

A senior Delhi government official said, "The department has held back more than Rs.70 crore that had been incurred by the nine districts because we have found discrepancies in the bills." The officer said while some districts have presented a reasonable bill, others have incurred "astronomical amounts for the same expenses. This needs to be scrutinised carefully and only then can the government release the money," the officer added.

Officials said the deputy commissioners (DC) of the nine districts in the Capital have the authority to carry out electionrelated activities in their areas. In addition, each district is provided an "original budget" for all its sanctioned expenses.

When expenses exceed the original budget, the DCs put forth a request for a "revised budget", which is provided by the finance department after careful scrutiny of the additional expenses incurred.

"The central district incurred the maximum expenditure. For example, a district may have provided bills amounting to Rs.10 lakh for a particular expenditure such as shamianas but the same has been shown to cost `50 lakh elsewhere.

This is a huge discrepancy and we are trying to track down why this is so," the official said. He said the DCs are being asked to provide a brick by brick account of what they have spent the money on and "we will release money on the basis of that".

Officials said while expenses incurred during the electoral process centre around erecting shamianas in the polling stations, furniture costs, setting up help desks, providing travel allowances for people on poll duty, a major chunk of it is incurred because of the Systematic Voters’ Education and Electoral Participation (SVEEP) programmes that are conducted in different Assembly constituencies to catch the voter’s attention.

Sources in the office of the Chief Electoral Officer of Delhi said one reason behind holding back the funds could also be politically motivated. "Those presiding over the disbursement of funds may be politically driven to hold back the funds. This means that those officials appointed by the Congress government may be unfairly harassing the DCs and holding back funds after the BJP government took control at the Centre," said an official requesting anonymity.



Courtesy:Indiatoday