It may be an open secret that candidates contesting the Assembly polls spend crores of rupees, but officially the limit is ₹28 lakh. And according to the election expense declarations submitted by the candidates who contested in the 224 Assembly constituencies to the Election Commission, no one breached this limit. Officially, the former MLA J.R. Lobo incurred the highest expense — ₹27.7 lakh.
The lowest expenditure — ₹500 — was incurred by Amruta Ratnakar Yeni, an Independent candidate from Shirahatti.
According to the declarations, candidates in 145 constituencies spent in the range of ₹15 lakh to ₹20 lakh , while 24 candidates spent between ₹20 lakh and ₹27 lakh. What is surprising is that more than 82 candidates declared that they spent only ₹5,000.
According to Section 78 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, every contesting candidate has to submit to the District Election Officer a true copy of his or her election expenses within 30 days from the date of declaration of election results.
The election expense limit for the Karnataka Assembly elections, fixed by the Election Commission of India, was increased from ₹16 lakh in 2013 to ₹28 lakh in 2018. This amount includes expenses on public meetings and processions, campaigning through electronic and print media, money spent on campaign workers and campaign materials, and expenses on vehicles.
Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy, who contested from two constituencies, has submitted that he spent ₹9.51 lakh in Ramanagaram and ₹10.22 lakh in Channapatna. While the former Chief Minister Siddaramaiah spent ₹17.51 lakh in Chamundeshwari and ₹19.6 lakh in Badami, B. Sriramulu spent ₹20 lakh in Badami and ₹19.12 lakh in Molakalmur.
Prominent candidates
While BJP State unit chief B.S. Yeddyurappa, who won from Shikaripur, spent ₹18.14 lakh, D.K. Shivakumar, who won from Kanakapura, spent ₹12.96 lakh. H.D. Revanna, who won from Holenarsipur, spent ₹9.9 lakh.
