South India’s election campaigns cost much less than upper limit fixed by EC: Survey

Association of Democratic Reforms and the National Election Watch analysed data from elections in the last five years in south India.
South India’s election campaigns cost much less than upper limit fixed by EC: Survey
South India’s election campaigns cost much less than upper limit fixed by EC: Survey
Written by:

MLAs in south India spend much less than the expenditure limit set by the Election Commission, according to an analysis done by the Association of Democratic Reforms and the National Election Watch.

Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana have an election expenditure limit of Rs 28 lakh per candidate, whereas for the Union Territory of Puducherry, the limit is Rs 20 lakh.

While Telangana MLAs on average spent Rs 12.63 lakh on their campaigns, Andhra MLAs spent an average of Rs 12.84 lakh and Tamil Nadu MLAs, Rs 13.36 lakh. Kerala MLAs spent the most among the southern states, at an average of Rs 19.6 lakh. MLAs in Puducherry, too, spent much less than the limit, averaging at Rs 5.02 lakh.

The expenditure data for the Karnataka elections held in may 2018 was unavailable.

The trend continued in state-wide expenditure as well. While Kerala spent 70.1% of the expenditure, all the others remained below the halfway mark.

Breakdown of expenditure

A large portion of the MLAs’ expenditure (30%) was on transportation. Following this, most of their expenditure went on campaign materials (25%), and the next on public meetings and processions (20%). The aspect that sees the least spending is campaigning on print or electronic media.

Declared cases

According to ADR, 44 MLAs from the southern states have declared criminal cases of electoral malpractices. Twenty of them are from Karnataka, 11 from Tamil Nadu, six from Telangana, five from Andhra Pradesh and two from Puducherry.

Related Stories

No stories found.
The News Minute
www.thenewsminute.com