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

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May 11, 2022, 3:52:34 AM5/11/22

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Press Release

Date: May 11, 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. Goa Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed all 40 election expenditure statements submitted after the Goa Assembly Election 2022 for newly elected MLAs. The expenditure limit for the MLAs during the Goa Assembly elections was Rs. 28 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/goa-assembly-elections-2022-analysis-election-expenditure-statements-mlas

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 Goa 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.
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 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 Goa Assembly 2022 Elections

1. Less than 50% of the Limit: Out of 40 MLAs analysed, 37 (92.5%) 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 40 MLAs from Goa Assembly, the average amount of money spent by them in the elections is Rs 9.61 lakhs, which is 34% of the expense limit.

3. Party-wise Average Election Expenses: The party wise average election expenses shows that the average spending for 20 MLAs from BJP is Rs.10.66 lakhs (38.1% of the expense limit). For 11 MLAs from INC, the average election expenditure is Rs.10.04 lakhs (35.9% of the expense limit), the average election expenditure for 2 MLAs from Maharashtrawadi Gomantak is Rs.7.17 lakhs (25.6% of the expense limit), the average election expenditure for 2 MLAs from AAP is Rs.6.78 lakhs (24.2% of the expense limit), the average election expenditure for 1 MLA from Goa Forward Party is Rs.10.06 lakhs (35.9% of the expense limit), the average election expenditure for 1 MLA from Revolutionary Goans Party is Rs.3.33 lakhs (11.9% of the expense limit) and 3 Independent MLAs have spent Rs.6.53 lakhs (23.3% 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	Krishna V. Salkar	South Goa	Vasco-Da-Gama	BJP	28,00,000 28 Lacs+	15,79,980 15 Lacs+	56%
2	Michael Vincent Lobo	North Goa	Calangute	INC	28,00,000 28 Lacs+	15,16,618 15 Lacs+	54%
3	Rohan Khaunte	North Goa	Porvorim	BJP	28,00,000 28 Lacs+	14,70,478 14 Lacs+	53%

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	Antonio Vas	South Goa	Cortalim	IND	28,00,000 28 Lacs+	3,21,947 3 Lacs+	11%
2	Viresh Mukesh Borkar	North Goa	St. Andre	Revolutionary Goans Party	28,00,000 28 Lacs+	3,33,244 3 Lacs+	12%
3	Ramkrishna Dhavalikar	South Goa	Marcaim	Maharashtrawadi Gomantak	28,00,000 28 Lacs+	4,02,761 4 Lacs+	14%

Table: 3 MLAs with lowest election expenditure

6. Expense on Public Meeting, Rally, and Processions with Star Campaigners: Out of the 40 MLAs analyzed, 30(75%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on public meetings, processions etc. with star campaigners and 10(25%) 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 40 MLAs analyzed, 33 (82.5%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on public meetings, processions etc. without star campaigners and 7(17.5%) 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: 20(50%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaigning through electronic/print media and 20 (50%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on campaigning through electronic/print media.

9. Expense on Campaign Workers: 34(85%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaign workers and 6 (15%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on campaign workers.

10. Expense on Campaign Materials: 36(90%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaign materials and 4 (10%) MLAs have declared that they have not spent any funds on campaign materials.

11. Expense on Campaign Vehicles: All 40(100%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on campaign vehicles.

12. Expense on Publishing of Declaration Regarding Criminal Cases: 17(42.5%) MLAs have declared that they have spent funds on publishing of declarations regarding criminal cases and 23(57.5%) 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 Goa 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, 65% funds were raised from political parties, 28% were raised by MLAs themselves and 7% funds were raised from other sources.

2. MLAs Who Raised Funds from Political Parties: Out of the 40 MLAs analyzed, 27 (67.5%) MLAs have declared that they have received funds from political parties and 13 (32.5%) 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 40 MLAs analyzed, 13 (32.5%) 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 27 (67.5%) 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 40 MLAs analyzed, 39 (97.5%) MLAs have declared that they have used their own funds for their election campaign and Only 1(2.5%) MLA has declared that he has 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 53.96% and on an average a MLA from INC raised 88.21% 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 55.79% 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 8.58% of their expense funds from any person/ company/ firm/ associations/ body of persons etc. as loan, gift or donation.

Contact Details

Goa Election Watch

Mr. Bhasker Assoldekar

+91-98203-53159
vibhan...@hotmail.com

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

Media and Journalist Helpline

+91 80103 94248

Email: a...@adrindia.org

Maj.Gen. Anil Verma (Retd)

Head

Association for Democratic Reforms,

National Election Watch