FPJ Legal: Petition filed in Madhya Pradesh High Court to fix time limit for panchayat elections expenditure

Jabalpur (Madhya Pradesh): A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Madhya Pradesh High Court to fix a time limit for the expenditure of candidates in panchayat polls in the state.

President of Nagrik Upbhokta Margdarshak Manch Dr. PG Najpandey and Rajat Bhargava filed the petition on Tuesday.

Counsel for petitioner, Advocate Amit Seth has presented the petition in the High Court and State Election Commission and Madhya Pradesh government have been made respondents of the petition.

Rajat Bhargava said that various works were being carried out through panchayats and the representatives had given monetary rights for it. But the representatives were spending unnecessarily in the elections for tempering the voters to cast their votes in their favour. ”These things are happening because there is no final limit on the expenditure of the candidates for the civic body elections. Therefore, the final limit should be fixed for the election expenditure,” said Bhargava.

The petition reads that the Panchayat elections in the state are likely to be rescheduled in about a month. Therefore, the decision should be taken in this regard at the earliest.

Earlier, the petitioners had filed public interest litigation and contempt litigation in the High Court because of which the State Election Commission has fixed a limit for the election expenses of the municipal councilor candidates.