Press Release: Analysis of Election Expenditure statements of MLAs from the Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections 2023

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Feb 19, 2024, 2:42:29 AM2/19/24

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Press Release

Date: February 19, 2024

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 the result of election, with the District Election Officer in all States and Union Territories. Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Chhattisgarh Election Watch have analysed 88 out of 90 election expenditure statements submitted after the Chhattisgarh Assembly Election 2023 for newly elected MLAs. The expenditure limit for the MLAs during the Chhattisgarh 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, expenses on campaign workers, expenses on vehicles used, expenses on virtual campaign, expenses on publishing of declaration regarding criminal cases and expenses on campaign materials.

The full reports in English and Hindi can be accessed here: https://adrindia.org/content/analysis-election-expenditure-statements-mlas-chhattisgarh-assembly-elections-2023

List of MLAs whose expenditure statements were not analysed

Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Chhattisgarh Election Watch have not analysed 2 MLAs as their expenditure statements were either badly scanned or complete expenditure statements were not uploaded on the CEO website. The details of these MLAs are given below:

S.No.	Candidate Name	Party Name	Constituency Name	District
1	Rikesh Sen	BJP	Vaishali Nagar	Durg
2	Indrashah Mandavi	INC	Mohla-Manpur (ST)	Mohla-Manpur-Ambagarh Chouki

Table: List of MLAs not analysed

Recommendations:

1. 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 Chhattisgarh Assembly Elections being the 2^nd 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.

2. 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 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.

3. 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 Chhattisgarh Assembly 2023 Elections

1. Less than 50% of the Limit: Out of 88 MLAs analysed, 10 (11%) 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 88 MLAs from Chhattisgarh Assembly, the average amount of money spent by them in the elections is Rs 27.11 lakhs, which is 68% of the expense limit.

3. Party-wise Average Election Expenses: The party wise average election expenses shows that the average spending for 53 MLAs from BJP is Rs.28.48 lakhs (71.2% of the expense limit). For 34 MLAs from INC, the average election expenditure is Rs.25.34 lakhs (63.4% of the expense limit) and 1 Gondvana Gantantra Party MLA has spent Rs.14.36 lakhs (35.9% 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
S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party	Expense Limit (Rs.)	Total expenses incurred (Rs.)	% of limit reached
1	ANILA BHENDIA	BALOD	DONDI LOHARA (ST)	INC	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	**38,59,871 38 Lacs+	96%
2	DIPESH SAHU	BEMETARA	BEMETARA	BJP	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	37,97,895 37 Lacs+	95%
3	DAYAL DAS BAGHEL	BEMETARA	NAWAGARH (SC)	BJP	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	36,97,477 36 Lacs+	92%

Table: Top 3 MLAs with highest election expenditure

**on total expenses value indicates that the MLA has not provided the total in their expenditure affidavits, it has been calculated on the basis of details provided by them in the same

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	Total expenses incurred (Rs.)	% of limit reached
S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party	Expense Limit	Total expenses incurred (Rs.)	% of limit reached
1	RAMKUMAR YADAV	SAKTI	CHANDRAPUR	INC	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	**2,65,764 2 Lacs+	7%
2	SHESHRAJ HARVANSH	JANJGIR-CHAMPA	PAMGARH (SC)	INC	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	**12,42,874 12 Lacs+	31%
3	INDRA KUMAR SAO	BALODABAZAR- BHATAPARA	BHATAPARA	INC	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	**12,44,584 12 Lacs+	31%

Table: 3 MLAs with lowest election expenditure

**on total expenses value indicates that the MLA has not provided the total in their expenditure affidavits, it has been calculated on the basis of details provided by them in the same

6. Expense on Public Meeting, Rally, and Processions with Star Campaigners (other than those for general party propaganda): Out of the 88 MLAs analyzed, 76 (86%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on public meetings, processions etc. with star campaigners (other than those for general party propaganda) and 12 (14%) 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 88 MLAs analyzed, 83 (94%) 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 5 (6%) 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: 35 (40%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaigning through electronic/print media and 53 (60%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on campaigning through electronic/print media.

9. Expense on Campaign Workers: 78 (89%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaign workers and 10 (11%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on campaign workers.

10. Expense on Campaign Materials: 73 (83%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaign materials and 15 (17%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on campaign materials.

11. Expense on Campaign Vehicles: 87 (99%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaign vehicles and 1 (1%) MLA has declared that He has not spent any funds on campaign vehicles.

12. Expense on Virtual Campaign: 6(7%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on virtual campaigns and 82 (93%) 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 17 MLAs analysed with declared criminal cases, All 17 (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

Summary and Highlights of Funds Raised by MLAs in the Chhattisgarh Assembly 2023 Elections

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, 20% funds were raised from political parties, 78% were raised by MLAs themselves and 2% funds were raised from other sources.

2. MLAs Who Raised Funds from Political Parties: Out of the 88 MLAs analyzed, 84 (95%) MLAs have declared that they have received funds from political parties and 4 (5%) 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 88 MLAs analyzed, 18 (20.45%) 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 70 (79.55%) 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 88 MLAs analyzed, 65 (74%) MLAs have declared that they have used their own funds for their election campaign and 23 (26%) 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 90.95% and on an average a MLA from BJP raised 94.08% 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 2.48% 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 1.62% of their expense funds from any person/ company/ firm/ associations/ body of persons etc. as loan, gift or donation.

Contact Details

Chhattisgarh Election Watch

Mr. Gautam Bandyopadhyay

Coordinator
+91-98261-71304
gautam...@gmail.com

Mr. Sudhir Pal
+91-94311-07277
mantha...@gmail.com

Association for Democratic Reforms/National Election Watch

Media and Journalist Helpline

+91 80103 94248

Email: a...@adrindia.org

Maj.Gen. Anil Verma (Retd)

Head

Association for Democratic Reforms,