Hyderabad: A division bench comprising Chief Justice Kalyan Jyoti Sengupta and Justice P.V. Sanjay Kumar on Tuesday directed the Law Commission and Union law secretary and Election Commission of India to explore the possibility of amending the law to incorporate a provision to fix the maximum expenditure during an election of MLCs.

The bench was disposing a petition by D.V. Rao, a practising advocate, seeking a direction over the inaction of the Election Commission and CEO of Telangana in not taking any attempt to direct candidates contesting MLC election of Mahbub-nagar-Ranga Reddy-Hyderabad (Graduates) constituency to declare their poll expenditure.

The petitioner told the court that as per Section 78 of the Representation of Peoples Act 1951, every contesting candidate is required to lodge a true copy of the account of his election expenses with the District Election Officer (DEO) within 30 days of the declaration of the result of the election.

He said failure to declare the account of poll expenses within a timeframe may result in disqualification of the candidate by the EC under Section 10A of the Act. The bench asked counsel representing the EC if the provision is applicable to all the contesting candidates.

Counsel replied that the EC has fixed maximum expenditure for the candidates contesting for the Lok Sabha and Assembly and there was no limit for the MLC candidates.

Feeling that in the absence of maximum limit for the MLC candidates, there is every possibility of taking advantage of the situation by the contesting candidates, the bench directed the Law Commission and Union Law Secretary and Election Commission to examine the matter to take steps to incorporate the provision.