Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Sukhvinder Singh Sukhu has declared the lowest expenditure of ₹11.25 lakh and the BJP MLA from Chopal the maximum of ₹36.92 lakh in the last assembly polls, according to a report by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) and the Himachal Election Watch.
Sukhu had contested the November 2022 polls from the Nadaun assembly constituency on a Congress ticket.
Former Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur incurred an expenditure of ₹35.34 lakh, the NGOs working for electoral reforms stated citing official data.
The organisations analysed election expenditure statements submitted by 66 of the 68 MLAs to the election authorities.
Election expenditure statements of two BJP MLAs - Bikram Singh from Jaswan Pragpur and Puran Chand from Darang -were not uploaded at the time the analysis was undertaken, State Coordinator Himachal Election Watch O.P. Bhuraita said.
The expense limit for an assembly poll candidate is ₹40 lakh.
Sukhu has declared the lowest expenditure of ₹11.25 lakh and the BJP MLA from Chopal, Balbir Singh Verma, the maximum of ₹36.92 lakh, according to the report.
Former speaker Vipin Singh Parmar declared an expenditure of ₹36.36 lakh.
The average election expense was ₹24.88 lakh, which is 62% of the expense limit, and the expense of 15 MLAs was less than 50%, the report stated.
In the Assembly, the Congress has 40 members and the BJP 25. There are three independents as well.
The average spending of 23 BJP MLAs was ₹28.89 lakh. The average election expenditure of the Congress MLAs was ₹22.87 lakh.
The average expense of three independents was ₹20.87 lakh.
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