Dear Friends,
According to Section 78 of the
Representation of the People Act, 1951, every contesting candidate has to lodge
a true copy of his election expenses within 30 days from the date of
declaration of result of election, with the District Election Officer in all
States and Union Territories. Association
for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Rajasthan Election Watch have analysed
199 out of 200 election
expenditure statements submitted after the Rajasthan Assembly Election 2023 for
newly elected MLAs. The expenditure limit for the MLAs during the Rajasthan
Assembly elections was Rs. 40 lakhs.
These election expense documents include details of expenses on public meetings
and processions, campaigning through electronic and print media, expense on
campaign workers, expense on vehicles used, expense on virtual campaign,
expense on publishing of declaration regarding criminal cases and expense on
campaign materials.
Recommendations:
- Each Winner is required to file his election
expenditure statement within 30 days of the results of the elections, the
deadline in case of the Rajasthan Assembly Elections being the 2nd January
2024. However, it was observed that the election expenditure statements of the
Winners were not uploaded on the CEO/DEO’s website till significantly after the
deadline. It is recommended that the
Abstract Expenditure Statement (Annexure E2) of the MLAs is uploaded on the
website of the CEO within 72 hours of the receipt of the statement.
- The deadline for filing an election petition
against any Winner is 45 days after the declaration of the results. Generally,
MLAs submit their election expenditure statements towards the end of the 30
days given for submission of the statements. This leaves 15 days for any common
citizen to file an election petition against any Winner. The deadline for
filing an election petition should be increased in order to give the citizens
time to scrutinize the election expenditure statements of the MLAs and gather
the relevant documents/proof etc. for the election petition.
- As has been instated in the filing of affidavits
during the elections, the MLAs should not be allowed to keep any field blank on
the Abstract Election Expenditure statement (Annexure E2) and Schedule 1 to 11.
The statements must be filled in a legible format and overwriting of amounts in
the statement should be discouraged.
Summary and Highlights of Election Expenses of MLAs from the Rajasthan Assembly 2023 Elections
1.
Less
than 50% of the Limit: Out
of 199 MLAs analysed, 71 (36%) MLAs have declared election expenses less
than 50% of the expense limit in
their constituency.
2. Average Election Expenses: Based on the
election expense declarations of 199 MLAs from Rajasthan Assembly, the average amount of money spent by them in
the elections is Rs 22.53 lakhs, which is 56% of the expense limit.
3. Party-wise Average Election Expenses: The party wise
average election expenses shows that the average spending for 115 MLAs from BJP is Rs.23.13 lakhs (57.8% of the expense limit). For 69 MLAs from INC, the average election expenditure is Rs.22.74 lakhs (56.9% of the expense limit), the average election
expenditure for 3 MLAs from Bharat Adivasi Party is Rs.13.19 lakhs (33% of the expense limit), the average election
expenditure for 2 MLAs from BSP is Rs.9.27 lakhs (23.2% of the expense limit), the average election
expenditure for 1 MLA from RLD is Rs.24.62 lakhs (61.6% of the expense limit), the election expenditure
for 1 MLA from Rashtriya Loktantrik
Party is Rs.17.30 lakhs (43.3% of the expense
limit) and 8 Independent MLAs have spent Rs.19.49 lakhs (48.7% of the expense limit).
Figure: Party-wise
Average Election Expenses (Rs.in lakhs)
4. Top 3 MLAs with highest Election Expenses: The details of top 3 MLAs
who have declared highest election expenses are given below:
|
S.No.
|
Name
|
District
|
Constituency
|
Party
|
Expense
Limit (Rs.)
|
Total
expenses incurred (Rs.)
|
% of
limit reached
|
|
1
|
Geeta Barwar
|
Jodhpur
|
Bhopalgarh (SC)
|
INC
|
40,00,000
40 Lacs+
|
37,85,030
37 Lacs+
|
95%
|
|
2
|
Bheem Raj Bhati
|
Pali
|
Pali
|
INC
|
40,00,000
40 Lacs+
|
37,41,383
37 Lacs+
|
94%
|
|
3
|
Heeralal Nagar
|
Kota
|
Sangod
|
BJP
|
40,00,000
40 Lacs+
|
37,36,631
37 Lacs+
|
93%
|
Table: Top 3 MLAs with highest election expenditure
5. MLAs with lowest Election Expenses: The details of 3 MLAs who have
declared lowest election expenses are given below:
|
S.No.
|
Name
|
District
|
Constituency
|
Party
|
Expense
Limit (Rs.)
|
Total
expenses incurred (Rs.)
|
% of
limit reached
|
|
1
|
Manoj Kumar S/O Swai
Singh
|
Churu
|
Sadulpur
|
BSP
|
40,00,000
40 Lacs+
|
5,84,845
5 Lacs+
|
15%
|
|
2
|
Pratap Singh Singhvi
|
Baran
|
Chhabra
|
BJP
|
40,00,000
40 Lacs+
|
5,89,892
5 Lacs+
|
15%
|
|
3
|
Zubair Khan
|
Alwar
|
Ramgarh
|
INC
|
40,00,000
40 Lacs+
|
8,25,043
8 Lacs+
|
21%
|
Table: 3 MLAs with lowest election expenditure
6.
Expense
on Public Meeting, Rally, and Processions with Star Campaigners (other than those for general party propaganda): Out
of the 199
MLAs analyzed, 144 (72%) MLAs have
declared that they have spent funds on public
meetings, processions etc. with star campaigners (other than those
for general party propaganda)
and 55(28%) MLAs have
declared that they have not spent any
funds on public meetings, processions etc. with star campaigners (other than those for
general party propaganda).
7.
Expense
on Public Meeting, Rally, and Processions without Star Campaigners (other than the ones with star campaigners of the
political party): Out
of the 199
MLAs analyzed, 197 (99%) MLAs have
declared that they have spent funds on public
meetings, processions etc. without
star campaigners (other than the ones
with star campaigners of the political party) and 2 (1%) MLAs have
declared that they have not spent any
funds on public meetings, processions etc. without star
campaigners (other than the ones with star campaigners
of the political party).
8.
Expense
on Campaigning through electronic/print media: 129 (65%) MLAs have declared that they
have spent funds on campaigning through electronic/print media and 70 (35%) MLAs have declared that they
have not spent any funds on campaigning through electronic/print media.
9. Expense on Campaign Workers: 157 (79%) MLAs have declared that they
have spent funds on campaign
workers and 42 (21%) MLAs have declared that they
have not spent any funds on campaign workers.
10. Expense on Campaign Materials: 168 (84%) MLAs have declared
that they have spent funds on campaign
materials and 31 (16%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on campaign materials.
11.
Expense on Campaign Vehicles: 197 (99%) MLAs have declared
that they have spent funds on campaign
vehicles and 2 (1%) MLAs have declared that
they have not spent any funds on campaign
vehicles.
12.
Expense
on Virtual Campaign: 32(16%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on virtual campaigns and 167 (84%) MLAs have
declared that they have not spent any funds on virtual campaigns.
13. Expense on Publishing of Declaration Regarding Criminal Cases: Out of the 61 MLAs analysed with declared criminal cases, All 61 (100%) MLAs have declared that they have spent
funds on publishing of declarations regarding criminal cases.
Figure: Break Down of Elections Expenses Incurred by MLAs
Figure: Percentage Break-down of Funds Raised by MLAs
1.
Percentage break-down of
funds received by MLAs: Out of the total funds received by
MLAs, 9%
funds were raised from political parties, 78% were raised by MLAs themselves and 13% funds were raised from other
sources.
2.
MLAs Who Raised Funds
from Political Parties: Out
of the 199 MLAs
analyzed, 158 (79%) MLAs have
declared that they have received funds from political parties and 41 (21%) MLAs have
declared that they have not received any funds
from political parties.
3.
MLAs Who Raised Funds
through any person/ company/ firm/ associations/ body of persons etc as loan,
gift or donation etc: Out
of the 199 MLAs
analyzed, 100 (50.25%) MLAs have
declared that they have received funds from any person/ company/ firm/ associations/ body of persons etc as loan,
gift or donation etc. and 99 (49.75%) MLAs have
declared that they have not received any funds
from any person/ company/ firm/ associations/ body of
persons etc as loan, gift or donation etc.
4.
Self-funds used for
election campaign: Out of the 199 MLAs analyzed, 180 (90%) MLAs have declared that they have used their own
funds for their election campaign and 19(10%) MLAs have declared that they have not used any of
their own funds for their election campaign.
5.
Average funds raised from
Political Parties (Party-wise): On an average a
MLA from INC raised 88.60% and on an average a MLA from BJP raised 67.23% of
his/her election expense funds from the political party.
6.
Average funds raised
through any person/company/firm/associations/body of persons etc as loan, gift
or donation etc (Party-wise): On an average a MLA from BJP raised 13.91% of his/her election expense funds from any
person/company/firm/associations/body of persons etc. as loan, gift or donation. Similarly, a MLA from INC raised on an average 4.19% of their expense funds from any
person/ company/ firm/ associations/ body of persons etc. as loan, gift or
donation.
Rajasthan Election Watch
Association for
Democratic Reforms/National Election Watch
-- Association for Democratic Reforms
T-95, C.L. House, 2nd Floor,
(Near Gulmohar Commercial Complex)
Gautam Nagar
New Delhi-110 049
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