Of the 191 candidates belonging to different political parties and independents who were in the fray in the 11 constituencies in Salem district during the Assembly elections, all but one have submitted their expenditure statements with the polling officials before the deadline on Monday.
A total of 191 candidates fought the elections in the Assembly constituencies of Salem North, Salem South, Salem West, Omalur, Edappadi, Sankagiri, Attur (reserved), Yercaud (reserved), Veerapandi, Mettur and Omalur.
As per Election Commission guidelines, candidates must file details of the poll expenditure account within one month of the announcement of the poll results.
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As many as 185 candidates had submitted their expenditure statements with the poll officials till Sunday and another five submitted their accounts on Monday, the final day.
R. Selvam, the Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) candidate for the Yercaud (reserved) constituency was the lone candidate who did not file the expenditure statement till the deadline. Mr. Selvam had finished third behind the winning AIADMK candidate and the DMK candidate.
The seven expenditure observers nominated by the Election Commission for the 11constituencies who are already here verified the statements submitted by the candidates. Official sources said that the expenditure statements after proper verification will be forwarded to the office of the Chief Electoral Officer, Tamil Nadu, from where they will be forwarded to the Election Commission in due course.
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There is no exemption under the law for any contesting candidate from submitting the account of his election expenses. The PMK candidate who failed to submit the expenditure details is expected to be debarred by the Election Commission from contesting in the polls for a certain period, official sources said.
Only PMK candidate
for the Yercaud
(reserved) constituency
fails to
expenditure