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Puducherry MLAs Spent Less Than Half Of Campaign Budget: Report
Writer: Prattusa Mallik
A student of Journalism and Audio-Visual Communication, interested in words and silences alike, I aim to bring the narratives of the periphery to the centre, one story at a time. When not working, I'm usually caught reading, thinking, writing, watching Friends, or stargazing.
Puducherry, 30 Jun 2021 2:12 PM GMT
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A mountain girl trying to make it big in the city. She loves to travel and explore and hence keen on doing on-ground stories. Giving the crux of the matter through her editing skills is her way to pay back the journalism its due credit.
Creatives : Prattusa Mallik
A student of Journalism and Audio-Visual Communication, interested in words and silences alike, I aim to bring the narratives of the periphery to the centre, one story at a time. When not working, I'm usually caught reading, thinking, writing, watching Friends, or stargazing.
The upper limit of the expenditure was ₹ 22 lakh. However, the average spending by all the lawmakers was only ₹ 7.3 lakh. The lowest spending, at just 28%, has been reported by the All India NR Congress (AINRC) lawmakers.
A report by Puducherry Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) stated that more than 80 per cent of newly elected lawmakers in Puducherry have reported to the Election Commission of India (ECI) that they had spent less than ₹ 11 lakh on their campaigning. Each contestant is compelled to file their expenditure statement within 30 days from the declaration of result. The report based its analysis on these statements, stated Hindustan Times.
Comparison of Expenditure
The upper limit of the expenditure was ₹ 22 lakh. However, the average spending by all the lawmakers was only ₹ 7.3 lakh or 33% of the allotted budget. The lowest spending — at just 28% — has been reported by the All India NR Congress (AINRC) lawmakers. In contrast, the highest expenditure was by Congress lawmakers.
Despite that, the Congress managed to win just two seats, while the highest number of seats at 10 were won by AINRC.
Within AINRC, contestant P R N Thirumurugan spent more than ₹ 15.4 lakh — the highest amount — almost 70% of the expenditure limit. Independent candidate M Sivivasankar claimed to have spent the least at just Rs. 2.17 lakh.
Instances Of Zero Expenditure
The report said that more than 40 per cent of lawmakers — including star campaigners — claimed to have spent absolutely no money on processions or public meetings. On the other hand, 77 per cent of lawmakers spent no amount "campaigning through any electronic or print media."
Most notably, 24 out of 30 lawmakers mentioned that they received no funds from their political parties to campaign.
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