Fix realistic limits for poll expenditure and ensure adherence, HC tells ECI

‘Greater judicial notice may be needed to curb black money’

The Madras High Court on Wednesday impressed upon the need for Election Commission of India (ECI) to keep a check on election funding. It said that the commission should fix realistic limits of money that could be spent by individual candidates for the elections and also ensure that those limits were adhered to scrupulously. Chief Justice Sanjib Banerjee and Justice Senthilkumar Ramamoorthy wrote: “It is common knowledge that contesting an election is an expensive proposition and the clandestine funding of elections is seen by many experts as the fundamental cause for the industry of corruption that is perceived to prevail in the country.”