When it comes to spending money on election campaign, the candidates of regional parties and independent candidates contesting from the Tehri parliamentary constituency have spent far less than candidates of national parties.
The candidates of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Indian National Congress (INC) spent above Rs 35 lakh each on their election campaign till May 5. Aam Aadmi Party candidate Anoop Nautiyal and Rashtriya lok Dal candidate Japinder Singh spent Rs 15,06,802 and Rs 11,89,105 respectively on their campaign. Most of candidates of regional parties and independent candidates spent money in the thousands on their election campaign. Failing to submit election campaign expenditure to Election Commission of India’s appointed observers on Monday, an independent candidate Raju Maurya was served notice on Monday.
Dehradun district chief treasury officer Jagat Singh Chauhan said that the election campaign expenditure showed by the candidates of political parties and independent candidates was tallied with the estimate by the election expenditure officials.
As per Election Commission of India’s guidelines, the party candidates were directed to submit their expenditure on April 28, May 2, 5 and 9. The BJP candidate Mala Rajya laxmi Shah showed Rs 39,19,030 as election campaign expenditure, Congress candidate Saket Bahuguna showed it at Rs 36,73,826; AAP's Anoop Nautiyal showed it at Rs 15,06,802, CPI-M's Shiv Prasad Devli showed it at Rs 4, 13,241; BSP candidate Shishpal Singh showed it at Rs 9,46,989; Rashtriya Uttarakhand Party candidate Navneet Singh Gusain showed it at Rs 1,44,140; Peace Party candidate Haji Mohammad Yusuf showed it at Rs 92,680; Bharatiya Mool Niwas Samaj Party candidate Johri lal Suman showed it at Rs 85,200; Rashtriya lok Dal candidate Japinder Singh showed it at Rs 11,89,105; Naya Daur Party candidate Satendra Sharma showed it at Rs 66,700 and independent candidates Sohanpal Singh showed it at Rs 85,015, Raju Maurya showed it at Rs 38,070; Brahamdev Jha showed it at Rs 1,60,504; Prem Singh Yadav showed it as Rs 50,024; Jaiprakash Upadhyay showed it at Rs 6,98,917 and Gaurav Pundir showed it as Rs 38,528 with their records matching with those of the ECI observers. All the candidates have been directed to submit their election campaign expenditure on May 9 to the observers, he added.