Election Commission announces austerity drive, ECs to give up tax benefits | Latest News India

Chief Election Commissioner Rajiv Kumar reevaluated the perks and privileges available to election commissioners and voluntarily surrendered his income tax benefits.

NEW DELHI: Five days after assuming charge as the chief election commissioner (CEC), Rajiv Kumar held the first meeting of the Election Commission where he reevaluated the perks and privileges available to the CEC and the election commissioners (ECs) and voluntarily gave up the tax exemption on the hospitality allowance, along with limiting leave travel concessions (LTC) extended to the CEC, ECs and their families.


“CEC and ECs will not take any income tax benefits presently given to them…. Further, CEC and ECs will avail only one LTC in a year in place of three LTCs presently available to them,” said an ECI press release.

“(The) Commission felt the need of observing austerity in personal entitlements… It was (unanimously) decided to send the proposal to the Central government for appropriate action,” it said.

Earlier, a monthly hospitality/entertainment allowance of 34,000 was issued to the CEC and the ECs which was non-income tax payable. This allowance was to be used for when guests or dignitaries visit the ECI. Apart from this, three LTCs were provided in a year for self, spouse and dependent members of the family which made travel affordable for them.


So far, the perks enjoyed by the CEC and the ECs, which are equivalent to those offered to Supreme Court judges, are on the value of rent-free accommodation, conveyance allowance and medical allowance amongst other benefits.

In February 2020, one of the suggestions in the union budget was to do away with tax exemptions that election commissioners enjoyed. The budget said that these exemptions should be done away with by April 2021 for not just Election Commission members, but also members of the Union Public Service Commission (UPSC).



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