Capt Amarinder seeks relaxation on bank withdrawal limit for validly nominated candidates to enable fair poll play

5 Dariya News

Chandigarh 18-Jan-2017

Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh has requested the Election Commission to direct the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to relax the limit on withdrawal of funds from banks and ATMs to enable the validly nominated candidates and political parties to contest the assembly polls in a democratic environment.In a letter to Chief Election Commissioner Dr. Nasim Zaidi, Captain Amarinder said given the time constraint, the matter needed the urgent attention of the Election Commission of India (ECI) and the RBI to facilitate fair play of democratic processes.With the existing RBI norms allowing only Rs. 24000 withdrawal a week from savings account and Rs. 1 lakh from current account, it was not possible for the candidates to defray their expenditure given the two weeks they would have for campaigning, from 21st January 2017 (when final list will be announced by EC after scrutiny of nominations) to 2nd February 2017 (the last date for electioneering), he wrote in the letter.Captain Amarinder pointed out that the nominated candidates   in   each   constituency   were  expected   to   incur   expenditure   on   their   respective   campaign   as   per   the   limits   prescribed   by   the  Election Commission, which necessitates that the expenditure be legitimate and properly accounted. However, as a result of the RBI limits, the candidates are   unable   to   meet   the   expenditure even   within   the   prescribed   limits from  their  respective  accounts.He urged the Election Commission to direct the RBI to relax the restrictions for validly nominated candidates to enable them to withdraw the required  money from  their  account  within  the  prescribed  limits  of  expenditure  as  per  ECI  guidelines.