'Not practical': BJD's VK Pandian on EC's Rs 90 lakh limit for candidates in Lok Sabha elections

Odisha's most powerful bureaucrat-turned-politician VK Pandian believes that the expenditure ceiling for candidates contesting Lok Sabha elections is not "practical" and that the Election Commission (EC) should start making it "realistic".

"The expenditure ceiling kept for the candidates is completely impractical. So if we have to do streamlining of elections in the country, we should start making the ceiling realistic," Pandian said while speaking to India Today's News Director Rahul Kanwal.

A 2000-batch IAS officer of the Tamil Nadu cadre, Pandian served as the private secretary to Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik for 12 years. He resigned from the service in October last year and joined the Biju Janata Dal (BJD) on November 27. 

When asked what should be the bare minimum ceiling for elections, the former bureaucrat said he was not able to put a number. "The good thing is that for a parliament, they (EC) have increased it substantially. Now it's about an 90 lakhs, but still I would say that it won't suffice. Rs 90 lakhs is not something which will suffice for Parliamentary constituency campaign." 

The EC has capped the expenditure limit at Rs 95 lakh for parliamentary constituencies and Rs 40 lakh for assembly constituencies.   

Pandian, the chief minister's right-hand man in the state, suggested that the candidates tend to use cash as the ceiling is lower than what it should be. "When your elections are costly and you have an artificial ceiling, there is a tendency to use cash," he said.  

"Let's be honest, throughout the country, you ask anyone whether this limit is practicable, nobody will say that this limit is practicable. So if the limit is not practicable and implementable, there is something happening in the field which I think the commission and others should get into," the former IAS officer, who is handling the BJD's campaign for assembly and Lok Sabha elections, said.  

When asked whether the electoral bonds were working well or no, Pandian said the electoral bonds scheme was one way of mobilising funds for the political parties and the intention to start it was good.

"I think the intention to start for the electoral bond is good that you are institutionalising something with rules, regulations, and everything. Perhaps the honourable court said that the rules and regulations have to be modified in such a way that it gives more transparency," he said. 

In Odisha, assembly and Lok Sabha elections will happen simultaneously from May 13. While Naveen Patnaik, who is the second longest-serving chief minister in the country, is expected to return for yet another record term after winning the assembly elections, the BJP is hoping to better its number in the Lok Sabha polls. 

In 2019, the BJP recorded an impressive surge of nearly 17 per cent in its vote share to 38.4 per cent. The saffron party bagged 8 of 21 Lok Sabha seats, while the ruling BJD won 12, and one seat went to the Congress. The BJP's gain came at the cost of Congress, which lost 12.2 per cent votes.