NEW DELHI: The Election Commission will on Monday consult all seven national parties and the 51 recognised state parties on proposed reforms including limiting election expenditure by political parties and introducing a ceiling on expenses by candidates contesting legislative council polls.

As per a booklet on proposed electoral reforms published by the EC in December 2016, the Commission has suggested that the ceiling on expenditure by political parties towards parliamentary or assembly polls should be 50 per cent or not more than the expenditure ceiling limit provided for the candidate multiplied by the number of candidates of the party contesting the election.

This would require an amendment to the Representation Of The People Act, 1951 and The Conduct of Election Rules, 1961. At the August 27 all-party meeting, convened by the EC to elicit parties' views on all important issues in view of the upcoming General Election, the poll watchdog will bring up its proposal to set a cap on expenditure by all contesting candidates of local authorities', graduates' and teachers’ constituencies in legislative council polls.

It had earlier suggested that the expenditure limit for these category of elections could be half of the limit for assembly elections in that state. There are seven states with a legislative council - UP, Bihar , J&K, Andhra Pradesh , Telangana, Karnataka & Maharashtra .

The other items on agenda for the all-party meeting include discussion on fidelity of electoral rolls and measures to be taken by parties to enhance representation of women in organisational structure of parties and in candidate selection for polls to legislative bodies.

With the Congress repeatedly raising the issue of inaccuracies in electoral rolls in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan, where assembly polls are due later this year, the EC will invite the views of all parties on measures to improve the accuracy, transparency and inclusivity in electoral rolls. The meeting shall also discuss measures to ensure transparency in financial dealings of political parties including timely submission of annual audited reports and election expenditure reports.

EC will also seek the parties’ views on issues related to conduct of election including alternative modes of voting for domestic migrants and absentee voters, enhanced participation of voters with disabilities and issues relating to operation of the electorally-transmitted postal ballot scheme.

