NCP MLAs spent most in 2014 Maha assembly polls: ADR

New Delhi, Oct 12 (IANS) A report compiled by the Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR), an NGO working in the field of electoral reforms, has revealed that Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) MLAs spent the maximum money in campaigning during the last assembly elections held in Maharashtra in 2014.

As per the report, MLAs belonging to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on the other hand, incurred maximum average electoral expenses during the 2014 assembly polls in Haryana.

The report has been compiled on the basis of an assessment of affidavits of electoral expenses submitted by 285 of the 288 sitting MLAs of Maharashtra and 85 of the 90 sitting MLAs of Haryana.

Both Maharashtra and Haryana are scheduled to go to assembly polls later this month after completion of their five-year terms.

The report states that the average election expenditure for an NCP MLA in Maharashtra assembly polls in 2014 was Rs 17.61 lakh, which was 62.9 per cent of the expense limit of Rs 28 lakh. They were followed by seven Independent MLAs with electoral expenses of Rs 17.61 lakh and 121 BJP MLAs with average expenses of Rs 15.32 lakh each.

In Haryana, in comparison, 46 BJP MLAs spent Rs 12.91 lakh as electoral expenses on an average. They were followed by five Independent MLAs with average expenses of Rs 12.84 lakh and 14 Congress MLAs with average electoral expenses of Rs 11.79 lakh.

In Maharashtra, the bulk of expenditure (54 per cent) was spent on public meetings and processions with or without star campaigners. In Haryana too, the bulk of expenditure (54 per cent) was spent by MLAs under the same head.

In Maharashtra, Omprakash Baburao Kadu alias Bacchu, an Independent MLA, had spent the maximum amount of over Rs 26 lakh in electoral expenses. In Haryana, Lalit Nagar of the Congress, had incurred a maximum electoral expense of over Rs 22 lakh.