Press Release: Analysis of Election Expenditure statements of MLAs from the Punjab Assembly Elections 2022

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May 18, 2022, 4:39:56 AM5/18/22

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Press Release

Date: May 18, 2022

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. Punjab Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed all 117 election expenditure statements submitted after the Punjab Assembly Election 2022 for newly elected MLAs. The expenditure limit for the MLAs during the Punjab 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 and expense on campaign materials.

The full reports in English and Hindi can be accessed here: https://adrindia.org/content/punjab-assembly-elections-2022-analysis-election-expenditure-statements-mlas

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 Punjab Assembly Elections being the 11^th April 2022. 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 10. 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 Punjab Assembly 2022 Elections

1. Less than 50% of the Limit: Out of 117 MLAs analysed, 74 (63%) 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 117 MLAs from Punjab Assembly, the average amount of money spent by them in the elections is Rs 17.99 lakhs, which is 45% of the expense limit.

3. Party-wise Average Election Expenses: The party wise average election expenses shows that the average spending for 92 MLAs from AAP is Rs.17.66 lakhs (44.2% of the expense limit). For 18 MLAs from INC, the average election expenditure is Rs.18.01 lakhs (45% of the expense limit), the average election expenditure for 3 MLAs from SAD is Rs.20.81 lakhs (52% of the expense limit), the average election expenditure for 2 MLAs from BJP is Rs.26.29 lakhs (65.7% of the expense limit), the election expenditure for 1 MLA from BSP is Rs.17.02 lakhs (42.6% of the expense limit) and 1 Independent MLA has spent Rs.23.73 lakhs (59.3% 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	Bhagwant Mann	Sangrur	Dhuri	AAP	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	34,94,319 34 Lacs+	87%
2	Kulwant Singh	Sahibzada Ajit Singh Nagar	S.A.S. Nagar	AAP	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	33,78,084 33 Lacs+	84%
3	Gurdit Singh Sekhon	Faridkot	Faridkot	AAP	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	30,92,765 30 Lacs+	77%

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
S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party	Expense Limit (Rs.)	Total expenses incurred (Rs.)	% of limit reached
1	Jai Krishan	Hoshiarpur	Garhshankar	AAP	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	5,71,287 5 Lacs+	14%
2	Gurlal Ghanaur	Patiala	Ghanaur	AAP	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	8,07,554 8 Lacs+	20%
3	Amrinder Singh Raja Warring	Sri Muktsar Sahib	Gidderbaha	INC	40,00,000 40 Lacs+	8,25,981 8 Lacs+	21%

Table: 3 MLAs with lowest election expenditure

6. Expense on Public Meeting, Rally, and Processions with Star Campaigners: Out of the 117 MLAs analyzed, 59(50.42%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on public meetings, processions etc. with star campaigners and 58(49.58%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on public meetings, processions etc. with star campaigners.

7. Expense on Public Meeting, Rally, and Processions without Star Campaigners: Out of the 117 MLAs analyzed, 113 (97%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on public meetings, processions etc. without star campaigners and 4(3%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on public meetings, processions etc. without star campaigners.

8. Expense on Campaigning through electronic/print media: 85(73%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaigning through electronic/print media and 32 (27%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on campaigning through electronic/print media.

9. Expense on Campaign Workers: 98(84%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaign workers and 19 (16%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on campaign workers.

10. Expense on Campaign Materials: 108(92%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaign materials and 9 (8%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on campaign materials.

11. Expense on Campaign Vehicles: 116(99%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaign vehicles and 1 (1%) MLA has declared that he has not spent funds on campaign vehicles.

12. Expense on Publishing of Declaration Regarding Criminal Cases: A total 58 MLAs have declared criminal cases, out of these 58 MLAs 56(97%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on publishing of declarations regarding criminal cases and 2(3%) MLAs have declared that they have not 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 Punjab Assembly 2022 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, 11% funds were raised from political parties, 47% were raised by MLAs themselves and 42% funds were raised from other sources.

2. MLAs Who Raised Funds from Political Parties: Out of the 117 MLAs analyzed, 41 (35%) MLAs have declared that they have received funds from political parties and 76 (65%) 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 117 MLAs analyzed, 88 (75%) 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 29 (25%) 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 117 MLAs analyzed, 113 (97%) MLAs have declared that they have used their own funds for their election campaign and 4(3%) 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 BJP raised 88.24% and on an average a MLA from AAP raised 8.41% 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 AAP raised 47.03% 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 SAD raised on an average 53.92% of their expense funds from any person/ company/ firm/ associations/ body of persons etc. as loan, gift or donation.

Contact Details

Punjab Election Watch

Mr. Jaskirat Singh
State Co-ordinator
+91-93160-84953
jask...@gmail.com

Parvinder Singh Kittna
State Co-ordinator

+91 9814313162
pavik...@gmail.com

Association for Democratic Reforms/National Election Watch/ Punjab Election Watch

Media and Journalist Helpline

+91 80103 94248

Email: a...@adrindia.org

Maj.Gen. Anil Verma (Retd)

Head

Association for Democratic Reforms,