EC given development budget little over 5 times what they had last year

In the new budget, the Election Commission has received a total of Tk1,920cr as their budget allocation for fiscal year 2019-20.

In the last fiscal year of 2018-19, the Election Commission sought Tk1895cr total EC budget though later it was revised to Tk4,342cr. In that budget the  EC received a development budget of Tk210cr within their total revised and enhanced budget of Tk2020cr,  since the national elections were at hand.

In FY 2017-2018, when there were no elections, the commission received Tk125cr for their development budget which was later increased to Tk290cr in their revised budget. But this FY, the Election Commission has received Tk1,141cr for their development budget which is a little more than 5 times the development budget of Tk210 crore last year, in FY2018-19.  

The Election Commission Deputy Secretary (Budget), Abdul Momin Sarker, said there are two different kinds of budget allocations: one for operational purposes, and another for development. The commission has undertaken many development projects for this fiscal year, so we asked for a Tk1141crore development budget. An additional Tk779cr will be spent for operational management purposes.

Of the total operational budget allocation of Tk779 crore, Tk310 crore will be spent for conducting elections, and Tk469 crore for the  Election Commission’s routine operational costs, including wages and census expenditures.

Election Commission officials said the development budget will be needed for implementing projects in 11 areas, including distributing NID cards and registering citizens who are between 0 and 18 years of age. 

Other areas for development are, making voter lists with photos, parliamentary by-elections, local government general and by-elections, distribution of better quality smart national IDs, distribution of paper laminated NIDs for 2 years, buying 82,000 EVMs and ancillary equipment, training of Election Commission officials, registration of expatriates, NID information verification and development of the commission and election management system.

The Election Commission sought an allocation of Tk1920cr in the budget for 2019-20 FY for its operational and development expenditure which is the biggest amount allocated for development purposes in this budget.

The new Finance Minister, AHM Mustafa Kamal, announced the proposed budget on Thursday.

Read the full budget speech for FY20 here.