ADR Election Expense reports 

Election Expense reports that analyze the election expense declarations of all the newly elected MLAs in recently held assembly elections for states of Himachal Pradesh and Gujarat:

1.       National Election Watch (NEW) and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analyzed the election expenditure documents of all the 182 newly elected MLAs in the Gujarat and all 68 newly elected MLAs in Himachal Pradesh 2012 Assembly Elections.

2.       The maximum limit put on these Election Expenses for the Gujarat 2012 Assembly Elections by the Election Commission of India is 16 Lakh Rupees, and for Himachal Pradesh this limit is 11 Lakh Rupees.

3.       In Gujarat, 1 MLA has declared expenses more than the expense limit (Rs 16 Lakh). He is Patel Satishbhai Motibhai of BJP from Karjan constituency with an election expense of about Rs 36.76 lakhs.

4.       The average amount spent by 182 MLAs in Gujarat is only about Rs 8.66 Lakhs (or 54% of the expense limit 16 Lakhs). Whereas in Himachal Pradesh, average amount spent by 68 newly elected MLAs is only about Rs 6.77 Lakhs,( or 62% of the expense limit 11 Lakhs).

5.       In  Party wise comparison of  average election expenses: 115 BJP MLAs  showed an average spending of  Rs 8.46 lakhs (or 53% of the expense limit) in Gujarat whereas in Himachal Pradesh 26 BJP MLAs showed an average spending of Rs 6.82 lakhs (62% of the expense limit), similarly for 61 INC MLAs average spending was Rs 8.98 lakhs (or 56% of the expense limit) for Gujarat whereas in Himachal Pradesh 36 INC MLAs the average spending was Rs 7.12 lakhs (65% of the expense limit).

6.       In Gujarat A total of 4 MLAs (out of 182 MLAs analyzed) have declared election expenses less than Rs 4 lakhs(that is less than 25% of Expense Limit set by ECI), whereas in Himachal Pradesh a total of 7 MLAs (out of 68 MLAs analyzed) have declared election expenses less than Rs 4 lakhs (that is about 36% of Expense Limit set by ECI).

7.       In Gujarat 2 MLAs (namely Vakil Manisha Rajivbhai of BJP from Vadodra City (SC) constituency and Rameshbhai Bhurabhai Katara of BJP from Fatehpura (ST) constituency) have declared that their election expenses have exceeded their total assets, whereas in Himachal Pradesh, 3 MLAs (namely Bikram Singh of BJP from Bhattiyat constituency, Yadvinder Goma of INC from Jaisinghpur (SC) constituency and Hans Raj of BJP from Churah (SC) constituency)  have similarly shown that they spent more money on election expenses than their total assets.

ADR Recommends:-

·      In order to curb the use of money power in elections, the election expense declarations of the elected MLAs should be properly scrutinized in a time bound manner by Election Commission of India and the strong action should be taken against defaulters

·      Also, the criminal and financial declarations of the elected MPs and MLAs should be scrutinized by the appropriate authorities under the supervision of Election Commission of India in a time bound banner and the strong action should be taken against defaulters

·       All the criminal cases against the MPs and MLAs, including those related to the above two, should be fast-tracked.

Regards

Media and Journalist Helpline +91 80103 94248 adr@adrindia.org

Prof. Jagdeep Chhokar IIM Ahmedabad (Retd) Founder Member, National Election Watch & Association for Democratic Reforms +919999620944 jchhokar@gmail.com

Mr. Anil Bairwal National Coordinator National Election Watch & Association for Democratic Reforms 011 4081 7601, +91 9999310100 adr@adrIndia.org, anil@adrIndia.org

Prof. Trilochan Sastry IIM Bangalore Founder Member, National Election Watch & Association for Democratic Reforms +919448353285, trilochans@IIMB.ERNET.IN

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