New Delhi, April 6 -- From fixing the rates for hiring of elephants and horses to campaign, to ascertain the rates of chai, kachoris, samosa besides size of garlands and several campaign related paraphernalia, the Election Commission (EC) has fixed rates for the campaign related items to be used by the contesting candidates and political parties during their election campaign in the ongoing Lok Sabha elections.

The candidates now will have to maintain a record of expenditure among things, on how many samosas, kachoris and cups of tea/coffee a candidate has offered to his/her workers and supporters, and how many garlands of various sizes were put around the netaji's neck during electioneering.

Interestingly, parties and candidates often ...