Chhattisgarh Times Raipur: Shyam Lal Kanwar of Congress who won Rampur (ST) seat defeating his nearest Bhartiya Janata Party (BJP) rival Nanki Ram Kanwar with 9,915 margin votes has spent only Rs 3.76 lakhs during his election campaigning.
According to a report of Association of Democratic Reforms (ADR) based on the election expense declarations of 83 out of 90 elected MLAs of Chhattisgarh to the Election Commission of India (ECI), the minimum election expense of about Rs 3.76 lakhs in 2013 assembly elections has been declared by Rampur MLA Shyam Lal Kanwar of Congress. He is followed by Ramanujganj MLA Brihaspat Singh of Congress with election expenses of about Rs. 4.32 lakhs and Lundra MLA Chintamani Kanwar of Congress with expenses of Rs. 4.42 lakhs.
Likewise, the maximum expense of about Rs 13.17 Lakhs has been declared by Basna MLA Rupkumari Choudhary of BJP followed by Jashpur MLA Rajsharan Bhagat of BJP with an expense of Rs 12.42 lakhs and Marwahi MLA Amit Aishwary Jogi of Congress with an expense of Rs 11.94 Lakhs.
The ADR report states that the average amount of money spent by the 83 MLAs in the 2013 assembly elections is only about Rs 8.46 lakhs, which is 53% of the expense limit i.e. Rs 16 lakh. Meanwhile, 32 MLAs have declared election expenses of less than 50% of the expense limit.
Besides, the report states that the Party wise average election expenses show that the average spending for 45 MLAs of BJP is Rs 8.94 lakhs (56% of the expense limit) while that of 37 MLAs of Congress is Rs 7.96 lakhs (49% of the expense limit).
The report also noted that the average election expense declared by nine cabinet ministers including Chief Minister is Rs 8.33 lakhs. Home Minister Ramsevak Paikra has declared highest election expense of Rs 11.09 lakhs (69% of expense limit), while Agriculture Minister Brijmohan Agrawal declared lowest election expense of Rs 5.35 Lakhs (33% of expense limit).
Three ministers namely Urban Development Minister Amar Agarwal, Education Minister Kedar Nath Kashyap and Brijmohan Agarwal have declared election expenses of Rs 7.66 lakh, Rs 7.31 lakh, and Rs 5.35 lakh which is less than 50% of expense limit. Chief Minister Raman Singh has declared election expense of Rs 8.16 Lakhs (51% of expense limit).
As per the report seven MLAs including Bilaigarh MLA Sanam Kumar Jangre of BJP, Khujji MLA Shri Bholaram Sahu of Congress and Ambikapur MLA T.S Singh Dev of Congress, have declared that they have not spent any amount on public meetings, processions etc.
While as many as 44 MLAs have declared that they have not spent any amount on campaigning through electronic or print media and 12 MLAs have declared that they have not spent any amount on campaign workers.
All 83 MLAs analyzed have declared that they have incurred some expense on campaign materials and erection of gates, arches, banners etc. Rampur MLA Shyam Lal Kanwar of Congress has declared the lowest amount of Rs 42,000 spent on campaign Materials, banners, gates, etc., says the report.
