NEW & ADR release report on election expenses in 5 states

This was claimed by National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) which released a report here today on the analysis of election expenses of newly elected MLAs of Goa, Manipur, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand-2012.

"Among all the newly elected MLAs from the five states, Narad of SP from Ballia Nagar in Uttar Pradesh has shown minimum expenses of only Rs 24,344 or 2 per cent of the expense limit of Rs 16 lakh," said Anil Bairwal, national cooordinator of NEW and ADR.

Narad was followed by BSP's Surajpal Sigh from Fatepur Sikri with expense of only Rs 36,470 and Rubi Prasad an Independent MLA from Duddhi (UP) with expense of Rs 1.43 lakh or 9 per cent of the expense limit, he said.

Stating that the report was based on information given by MLAs to ECI, Bairwal said only two MLAs - Raghuraj Singh Shakya of SP from Etawah constituency declared to have spent Rs 20.63 lakh and Sukh Devi Verma of SP from Bharthana constituency Rs 18.44 lakh.

MLAs declared their average election expense to be very low. While the amount was Rs 8.68 lakh in UP, it was Rs 6.77 lakh in Punjab followed by Uttarakhand Rs 6.49 lakh, Manipur Rs 4.21 lakh and Goa Rs 3.10 lakh.

The report said 20 of the 447 MLAs analysed declared they did not spend any money on public meetings and processions though their both their parties and the candidates themselves claimed huge crowds at their rallies, it said.

While most vehicles were rented during elections and candidates travelled in large cavalcades, only 9 out of 447 MLAs of the five states declared they did not spend any money on vehicles, the report said.

"Six out of 447 MLAs declared they have not spent any money on any kind of campaign material," the report said.

NEW and ADR released the report a day before the 8th National Conference on Electoral and Political Reforms to begin here from tomorrow.