NCP’s Lande spent the most on campaign, Jagtap close second

Besides, NCP’s Ramesh Thorat from Daund has shown expenses of Rs 11.17 lakh, while former cooperatives minister and Congress candidate Harshvardhan Patil from Indapur has shown expenses of Rs 10.22 lakh. While many of the candidates had voluntarily submitted their expenses for the first inspection, as per EC orders, some complied only after having been issued notices.

From morchas to public rallies, pamphlets to road shows, candidates have gone all out to reach voters. With an expenditure limit of Rs 28 lakh fixed for each candidate, the election department will assess the total expenses incurred by them till October 19.

According to the EC directives, the candidate submits expenses to the returning officer concerned who then sends the details to the expenditure cell divided into four parts according to the Parliamentary constituencies, with each taking care of six Assembly segments.

“We have figures submitted by the candidates till the end of last week and we will continue the inspections till October 19 till the counting is completed,” said an official from the expenditure cell. While the limit of individual expenses is Rs 28 lakh, the rallies and sabhas are all put under party expenses.

The cell keeps two registers — one contains the submissions made by the candidates, while the other is maintained by the cell according to the inspection carried out by it. Once the inspection is over, the two records are tallied. If any discrepancy is found, the candidate is intimated and rectifications sought.

“The rates of every item is fixed under the election expenses and if any candidate does not produce the expenses according to that register, the register readied by our cell is used as referral. Notices are issued if any discrepancy is found.
If the candidates immediately adhere to the notice, the case is not taken forward. If they do not, a final notice is issued,” said the official.

After the initial inspection, the six Assembly constituencies of Junnar, Ambegaon, Khed Alandi, Shirur, Bhosari and Hadapsar under Shirur Parliamentary constituency has seen Lande and Benke from NCP submit the highest figures. Dilip Walse-Patil, also from NCP, has shown an expenditure of Rs 8.33 lakh. “An assessment of the candidates shows the NCP candidates have incurred maximum expenses, followed by the BJP and the Congress,” said the election department official.

Under Baramati Parliamentary constituency, which has six Assembly segments of Daund, Indapur, Baramati, Purandar, Bhor and Khadakwasla under it, the highest amount has been spent by NCP’s Daund candidate Ramesh Thorat, followed by Harshvardhan Patil (Indapur), Ajit Pawar (Baramati) and Sharad Dhamale — the Bhor candidate who has shown expenses of Rs 8.33 lakh.

The Pune Lok Sabha constituency too has an NCP candidate, Bapu Pathare, leading the pack. He has spent Rs 9.49 lakh, while Deepak Mankar, the Kasba Peth candidate of the same party, has mentioned expenses of Rs 7.33 lakh.

The Maval Parliamentary constituency, which has only three Assembly constituencies under it in Pune district, has NCP’s Laxman Jagtap topping the chart with Rs 11.32 lakh followed by Anil Bhosale of the same party who has spent Rs 8.62 lakh.

The expenditure cell officials said most of the candidates whose expenses touched the Rs 1-lakh mark were from established political parties. No Independent candidate has been able to match the expenses incurred by party nominees.
“Some of the Independent candidates have shown expenses of only Rs 6,000, which is just Rs 1,000 more than the deposit (for an SC/ST candidate),” said the official.

An open category candidate is required to deposit Rs 10,000.