New Delhi: The Election Commission is formulating "tougher guidelines" to tighten the screws on the purses of "overspending" candidates in the ensuing Assembly polls.

"We are working on it and the guidelines will be ready by this week," much before the process for the five Assembly polls is notified, EC sources said, adding this was the first time such stringent measures were being imposed on the expenditure of candidates.

While the notifications for the Assembly polls in Mizoram would be on October 27, for other four states - Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh – it would be on November 7.

Though the electoral laws provide a maximum limit of Rs 6 lakh for a candidate contesting Assembly polls, candidates end up spending much more and accounting it on the heads of political parties, friends and relatives, which the Commission was keen on plugging, the sources said.

Talking tough, Chief Election Commissioner J M Lyngdoh had said recently in Jaipur that every contestant for the upcoming Assembly polls would have to file affidavits and statement of expenditure incurred on electioneering daily.

The Election Commission would be very strict in this regard and the candidate should have to attribute expenses incurred by anyone on his behalf and there would be no relaxation in this regard, he had said.

PTI