Press Release: Analysis of Election Expenditure statements of MLAs from the Odisha Assembly Elections 2024

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Press Release

Date: August 12, 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 result of election, with the District Election Officer in all States and Union Territories. Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and Odisha Election Watch have analysed all 147 election expenditure statements submitted after the Odisha Assembly Election 2024 for newly elected MLAs. The expenditure limit for the MLAs during the Odisha 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.

The full reports in English and Hindi can be accessed here: https://adrindia.org/Analysis_of_Election_Expenditure_Statements

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 Odisha Assembly Elections being the 5^th July 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 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.

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 Odisha Assembly Elections 2024

1. Less than 50% of the Limit: The candidate expenditure limit for Odisha assembly elections 2024 was Rs 40 lakhs. Out of 147 MLAs analysed, 21 (14%) 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 147 MLAs from Odisha Assembly, the average amount of money spent by them in the elections is Rs 26.22 lakhs, which is 66% of the expense limit.

3. Party-wise Average Election Expenses: The party wise average election expenses shows that the average spending for 78 MLAs from BJP is Rs.25.39 lakhs (63.5% of the expense limit), for 51 MLAs from BJD is Rs.31.17 lakhs (77.9% of the expense limit), for 14 MLAs from INC is Rs.14.54 lakhs (36.4% of the expense limit), for 1 MLA from CPI(M) is Rs.36.57 lakhs (91.4% of the expense limit) and 3 independent MLAs have spent Rs.14.77 lakhs (36.9% 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
1	Ananta Narayan Jena	Khordha	Bhubaneswar Central (Madhya)	BJD	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	37,67,437 37 Lacs+	94%
2	Bhaskar Madhei	Mayurbhanj	Udala (ST)	BJP	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	37,29,530 37 Lacs+	93%
3	Prakash Soren	Mayurbhanj	Baripada (ST)	BJP	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	37,19,093 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	Ashok Kumar Das	Bhadrak	Basudevpur	INC	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	8,67,696 8 Lacs+	22%
2	Prafulla Chandra Pradhan	Kandhamal	G. Udayagiri (ST)	INC	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	9,44,150 9 Lacs+	24%
3	Mangu Khilla	Malkangiri	Chitrakonda (ST)	INC	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	9,45,749 9 Lacs+	24%

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 147 MLAs analyzed, 131 (89%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on public meetings, processions etc. with star campaigners (other than those for general party propaganda) and 16 (11%) 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 147 MLAs analyzed, all 147 (100%) 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).

8. Expense on Campaigning through electronic/print media: 58 (39%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaigning through electronic/print media and 89 (61%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on campaigning through electronic/print media.

9. Expense on Campaign Workers: 130 (88%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaign workers and 17 (12%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on campaign workers.

10. Expense on Campaign Materials: 108 (73%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaign materials and 39 (27%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on campaign materials.

11. Expense on Campaign Vehicles: 145 (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: 8(5%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on virtual campaigns and 139 (95%) 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 85 MLAs analysed with declared criminal cases, 81 (95%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on publishing of declarations regarding criminal cases and 4 (5%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on 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 Odisha Assembly Elections 2024

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, 84% funds were raised from political parties, 8% were raised by MLAs themselves and 8% funds were raised from other sources.

2. MLAs Who Raised Funds from Political Parties: Out of the 147 MLAs analyzed, 132 (90%) MLAs have declared that they have received funds from political parties and 15 (10%) 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 147 MLAs analyzed, 70 (48%) 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 77 (52%) 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 147 MLAs analyzed, 128 (87%) MLAs have declared that they have used their own funds for their election campaign and 19 (13%) 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 BJD raised 94.15% and on an average a MLA from BJP raised 84.64% 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 INC raised 32.66% 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 BJP raised on an average 8.62% of their expense funds from any person/ company/ firm/ associations/ body of persons etc. as loan, gift or donation.