Reminders fall on deaf ears as Chandigarh yet to get election funds worth crores from Centre

Sources stated that of the total Rs 7 crore spent on the Lok Sabha elections, Chandigarh received only Rs 2 crore from the central government and has still to get Rs 5 crore.

“We have sent three reminders to the government, but have not received the funds yet. Those who made arrangements under various heads have given us the bills and are waiting for us to release the payment,” a senior official from the local election department in Chandigarh, said.

The official added that a sum of Rs 7 crore has been spent for conducting the polls in the UT.

In the last general election in 2019, an expenditure of Rs 5.5 crore was incurred for Chandigarh, while in 2014, Rs 3.88 crore were spent.

The bills for tentage and furniture, which cost Rs 1.10 crore, have been received. “The arrangements on tentage and furniture cost us the maximum chunk in every election,” the official added.

Under the honorarium head, Chandigarh election department is yet to give Rs 80 lakh to the polling staff. Honorarium is the amount given to the polling staff that comes on duty for successful and fair conduct of the polls.

According to the details, under the head of refreshments, Rs 60 lakh estimates have been prepared for the polling staff during the day of voting and on rehearsal days.

The CTU buses were hired for about Rs 52 lakh – a category under which Rs 38 lakh were spent in 2019 Lok Sabha election. Other vehicles hired for other polling staff, flying squad etc for Rs 60 lakh. .

For videography, Rs 28 lakh were spent – Rs 12 lakh more than seen in 2019 (Rs16 lakh).

The power pack arrangement – for setting up of the control unit for the VVPAT batteries – cost Rs 40 lakh for which the department had spent Rs 25 lakh in the last election. For the computer hardware/ scanners etc, Rs 35 lakh have been tentatively spent.

The election office also spent Rs 35 lakh on carrying out the webcasting of all the polling stations. For payment to technical engineers kept on the backup, Rs 15 lakh have been spent.