Election Expenses in Karnataka - An ADR Report

Dear Friends,

While there were reports of the use of money power in the recently held elections in Karnataka, the newly elected MLAs have declared to the Election Commission of India (ECI) that on an average they have spent very little money while contesting these elections.

Several MLAs in the state have declared that they spent Rs zero (0) or less than Rs 5000 on expenses like public meetings, election rallies etc.. While ECI and Press Council of India (PCI) received a lot of complaints about Paid news in these states, most MLAs have declared that they have not spent any money or very little money on "campaigning through electronic/print media".

Either contesting elections have become very cheap in India or most of these MLAs have lied in their declarations. It is absolutely necessary to have a strong mechanism to verify these declarations to control the misuse of money power and incorrect reporting of election expenses.

We also urge the citizens to come forward and submit any proof to the ECI that they may have on expenses over and above these expense declarations done by elected MLAs. It may be noted that the election of a candidate can only be challenged within 45 days of the election which means that any election petition challenging an election has to be filed by 22nd June.

Press Release

Both English and Kannada Press Release are attached for your convenience and will also be available on our website http://adrindia.org/content/recent-upcoming-elections

Following are the highlights of our Election Expense reports that analyze the election expense declarations of all the newly elected MLAs in recently held assembly elections in Karnataka:

1. Average Election Expenses: Based on the election expense declarations of 213 out of the 224 newly elected MLAs of Karnataka to the ECI, the average amount of money spent by them in the elections is only about Rs 7.43 Lakhs, which is 46% of the expense limit (16 Lakhs).

2. Party wise Average Election Expenses: The Party wise average election expenses shows that the average spending for 117MLAs of INC is Rs 7.53 lakhs (47% of the expense limit), for BJP’s 37 MLAs is Rs 7.20 lakhs (45% of the expense limit), for 37JD (S) MLAs is Rs 7.47 lakh (47% of the expense limit), for 6 MLAs of KJP is Rs 7.20 lakhs (45% of the expense limit) and for 4 MLAs of BSRC is Rs. 6.09 lakhs (38% of the expense limit).

Expense more than Expense limit: Only 1 MLA has declared election expenses more than the expense limit (16 Lakhs). Mallikarjun Sidramappa Khuba of JD(S) from BASAVAKALYAN has declared election expenses of about Rs 16.03 lakhs. 4. Lowest Election Expenses: A total of 15 MLAs (out of 213 MLAs analyzed) have declared election expenses less than Rs 4 lakhs (that is about 25% of Expense Limit set by ECI).

5. Top 3 MLAs with highest Election Expenses: The maximum expense of about Rs 16.03 lakhs (or more than 100% of the expense limit) has been declared by Mallikarjun Sidramappa Khuba of JD (S) from BASAVAKALYAN constituency, followed bySanteesh Sail Krishna an IND from Karwar constituency with an expense of about Rs. 13.22 lakhs (or 83% of the expense limit) and Basavaraj Neelappa Shivannanavar of INC from Byadgi constituency with an expense of Rs 13.10 lakhs (or 82% of the expense limit).

6. MLAs with lowest Election Expenses: The minimum expense of about Rs 1.13 Lakhs (or 7% of the expense limit) has been declared by S. N Subbareddy of IND from BAGEPALLI constituency. He is followed by K.R. RAMESH KUMAR of INCSRINIVASAPUR constituency with election expenses of about Rs. 2.54 lakhs (or 16% of the expense limit) and Kyatasandra N. Rajanna of INC from MADHUGIRI constituency with expenses of Rs. 3.07 lakhs (or 19% of the expense limit).

7. Election Expenses exceeding declared Total Assets: Only 1 MLA has declared election expenses more than their total assets declared in the 2013 Assembly Elections. H.P. Rajesh of INC from Jagalur constituency has spent more money on election expenses than the total assets declared in the affidavit submitted by him to the ECI prior to the elections. (Total Assets declared: Rs 7.50 Lakhs; Election Expenses declared: 11.89 Lakhs).

8. Expense on Public Meetings and Processions: Out of all the 213 MLAs analyzed, 28 have declared that they have spent not spent ANY amount on public meetings, processions etc.

9. Expense on Campaigning through electronic/print media: 73 MLAs have declared that they have not spent ANY amount on campaigning through electronic/print media.

10. Expense on Campaign Workers: 102 MLAs have declared that they have not spent ANY amount on campaign workers.

11. Expense on Vehicles Used: Only 1 MLA has declared that they have spent less than Rs 10,000 on use of vehicles.Basavaraj Bommai of of BJP from Shiggaon constituency has declared that he has spent only Rs. 5,201 on vehicle use.

12. Expense on Campaign Materials and Erection of gates, arches, banners etc.: Only 1 MLA has declared that they have not incurred any expense on campaign materials and erection of gates, arches, banners etc. S.Madhu Bangarappa of JD (S) from Sorab constituency has declared that no amount was spent on Campaign Materials, banners, gates, etc.

ADR Recommends:-

· In order to curb the use of money power in elections, the election expense declarations of the elected MLAs should be properly scrutinized in a time bound manner by Election Commission of India and the strong action should be taken against defaulters

· Also, the criminal and financial declarations of the elected MPs and MLAs should be scrutinized by the appropriate authorities under the supervision of Election Commission of India in a time bound banner and the strong action should be taken against defaulters

· All the criminal cases against the MPs and MLAs, including those related to the above two, should be fast-tracked.

Thanks & Regards

Karnataka Election Watch

The above has come from ADR (Association for Democratic Reforms) who are doing very good work in cleaning up our political system.