New Delhi: The Election Commission (EC) and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) are on a collision course after the central bank rejected an EC request to increase the weekly cash-withdrawal limit for candidates contesting the upcoming Assembly elections in five states.
The EC had urged the RBI to increase the withdrawal limit for candidates to Rs 2 lakh from the current Rs 24,000 per week imposed on everyone after the Centre’s demonetisation move.
However, the RBI said the hike would not be possible at this stage. The EC then expressed its “serious concern” to RBI Governor Urjit Patel about the “cursory manner in which the issue has been dealt with”. As per law, candidates contesting polls in UP, Uttarakhand and Punjab can spend Rs 28 lakh each on their campaigns.
Election Commission said that the RBI has not realised the gravity of the matter. It reminded the central bank that it is “imperative” that its directions are “complied with” during poll season.
“It is reiterated that it is the constitutional mandate of the ECI to conduct free and fair elections and to provide level playing field to all candidates," the letter read.
In the letter, the Election Commission has desired that current limit on cash withdrawal for candidates for the forthcoming elections may be enhanced in order to ensure that they are able to defray election expenditure up to the statutory limits.
The poll panel further requested the candidates to incur their election expenses by account payee cheque or RTGS/NEF'T for all exceeding Rs. 20,000 during the entire election process.
Currently, ATM withdrawal limit stands at Rs 10,000 a day and bank withdrawal is capped at Rs 24,000 a week for savings accounts and Rs 1,00,000 a week for current accounts.
